


The Arch Project

by Seliphra



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Canon-Typical Violence, Conspiracy Theories, Conspiracy theorist Pidge, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, Lance (Voltron) is a genius, M/M, Memory Loss, Rating May Change, Slow Burn, There is a single mentioned date between Lance and Nyma, non human Keith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-17 22:50:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10603929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seliphra/pseuds/Seliphra
Summary: When Lance McLain gets promoted to a top secret research project, he is delighted to learn that the old conspiracy theories about something crashing in the desert of New Mexico were right. No one is entirely sure what it is that crashed, but it appears to be a man. A very pretty man who hasn't woken up since the crash. Lance is determined to be the first person on the project in a century to finally crack the case of just what this unconscious being is. Human, alien, or something else entirely? But there are forces out there determined to uncover the truth, and steal it if they must. The Voltron Group, a well known hacker group will apparently stop at nothing to find out what Galra Associated Corperation is hiding. And sooner or later, Lance will have to choose where his loyalties lie.





	1. The Arch Project

**Author's Note:**

> Arch project should be pronounced 'Ark'. I hope you all enjoy, I meant to publish this a week ago, but my laptop died very suddenly and now I have a new one instead so hey, here you go! We're not going to see Allura or Shiro or Shay for a while, but they will feature pretty strongly eventually, it'll be mostly Lance for the first while. Hope you all enjoy, and please let me know what you think!

Lance tapped his fingers on the arm rest nervously as he eyed the door. He was early, ten minutes, but it had been over half an hour since he was _supposed_ to go inside his bosses office. Not even his boss, it was his bosses, bosses, boss. Or something way up the chain anyways. Lance was so nervous he could not concentrate on anything. He also could not stop tapping his fingers on the wooden arm rest. Really _nice_ wooden arm rest now that he thought about it, but then this _was_ the CEO's office he was in. Or rather, the CEO's waiting room. The receptionist was sighing now and then and throwing Lance a dirty look for tap, tap, tapping his fingers on the probably teak arm rests and playing on her phone.

She had curly blonde hair and pretty purple eyes -Lance suspected contacts though, her pupils were oddly non-fluctuating- pale skin and a rounder face. She looked taller than Lance, and the name plaque on her desk -this place was so fancy the secretary got her own gold plated name plaque- read 'Nyma Sørensen'. She was the kind of woman that Lance would be flirting with openly under normal circumstances, she was drop dead gorgeous. These were not normal circumstances though.

Lance was the youngest student to graduate with a full PhD in his class, at only twenty two. He had done it with full honours, and a job offer with the most well respected company on the planet, Galra and Associated Co., or GAC for short. GAC had a wide variety of things the company was involved in, from pharmaceuticals offered at extremely competitive pricing, to green energy sector work, to dozens of charities. Lance's mother had nearly died of pride when he told her that he had been _asked_ to come to them. An alert pinged from Nyma's computer and she sighed and looked at Lance, popping the gum she was chewing as she pressed a button to open the door into President Zarkon's office.

“He'll see you now,” She said, her tone bored. Nyma's voice was pretty too. If he still had his job and was wrong that he was being fired for some colossal mistake he had been unaware of, maybe he would come back and ask her on a date. Lance was pretty good looking, most women said yes to a date with him. One date, at least. Not usually two.

Lance stood up, fighting the urge to vomit and walked into the office, his hands shaking lightly in nervousness. Zarkon sat in his chair, facing the door, and he glanced up when Lance walked inside. The man was strikingly tall and off putting with how muscular he was, but is greying black hair was combed neatly back. Zarkon gave a smile that unsettled Lance somewhat, his grey eyes piercing. Lance felt like those eyes could see right into his mind and soul, but he sat down stiffly anyways, noting that his own blue suite and white collared shirt were much cheaper than Zarkon's black and white pinstriped suite.

“Lance McLain, I take it. You're what, twenty-five?” He asked, his voice deep, stern, and reminiscent of the kind of father who was to be avoided at all costs when angered. It sent a shiver down Lance's spine and he nodded.

“Y-yes sir. Twenty two, sir,” Lance was almost afraid of correcting Zarkon about his age, but he knew he probably should. To his surprise, Zarkon gave a smile, and Lance got the impression it was meant to be warm, perhaps even meant to calm Lance, but all it did was frighten him more. For all the good GAC did, Zarkon was a truly terrifying man to be in the presence of.

“Twenty two. Even better. You've been with us for one year now, and I must admit, your work has, how shall I put it? Caught my attention. All in a good way, of course. I have an offer for you Lance. You have already proven yourself to be a remarkable researcher and as having a brilliant mind. You are one of the most promising young researchers we have ever recruited and I feel your talents could be better used if applied... elsewhere.” Zarkon's tone made Lance curious, despite his fear.

“Elsewhere sir? If it's not out of line, what better use could I be then assisting with the research in the astrophysics department?” Lance asked. He enjoyed his work right now, even if he mostly helped other researchers with their material.

“Do you know about the crash that happened in Roswell, New Mexico, a century ago now?” Zarkon asked calmly as he stood up, walking towards one of the windows of his office. There were three, all behind the desk and lined up together, going from the floor to the ceiling and showing off the brilliant blue sky outside. The building they were in was taller than anything else, the top of the next highest just barely visible from this floor.

“Well, yes sir, everyone knows about that sir,” Lance said, managing a small, hopefully mirthful smile. It was hard to do so, with one's heart racing and one's imagination beginning to fly away on him.

“Yes, I suppose they do. The official story of course is that it was a weather balloon. The _conspiracy_ story is that it was an alien space ship, extra terrestrial,” Zarkon said as he looked outside the window. Lance found it difficult to watch his boss with the light sillouetting him like this, but he felt growing excitement at that.

“And, I suppose the true story is closer to the conspiracy story, is that what you mean to tell me sir?” He asked now, hoping he was not overly excited in his _tone,_ even if he was very excited.

“I suppose it is. It is easier if you see yourself of course. I wish to place you in the Arch Project. It is of course, a top secret project. You can speak of it to no one outside of clearance level ten.” He said.

“I thought clearance only went to level six sir?” Lance raised an eyebrow as he asked, though he dropped it quickly when Zarkon turned around, an amused smile playing at his lips.

“Yes. You did. Do you want to be on the project? You do gain a pay raise of course, added benefits, full dental and healthcare naturally. And there are er, other benefits, shall we say?” He said, but Lance wanted more details on those benefits.

“Such as?” He asked, hoping he was not taken as rude or anything.

“Your mother. Her immigration status would be, shall we say, expedited. Your father is also quite ill I hear? His treatment could be dramatically improved. Of course this project, if successful, could do far more too. Imagine, if you will, where all that ails us as a human, were no longer an issue. The common cold, flu's, measles, mumps, ebola, cancer, every disease you can think of, eradicated. And the greatest limit of all, death. This project could teach us how to escape our mortal constraints. Great minds, such as your own, could work and create, and astound us all for centuries. Imagine the progress humanity might make,” Zarkon said. His words spoke of wonders, of good, of things Lance had dreamed of making possible one day while he was in university. But his tone still frightened Lance, and the look in Zarkon's eye was one of greed.

“I'll do it,” He said. The good had to outweigh anything else. And besides, his curiosity was overwhelming him. Aliens probably, it had to be aliens.

“Good. I look forward to hearing about your research in the Arch project, Lance McClain. You may go now, if you wish. Report to basement laboratory twelve tomorrow morning.” Zarkon instructed.

“I though there were only four basement labs?” Lance asked curiously as Zarkon smiled.

“Yes. You did. Your pass card will let you access it.” Zarkon said as he sat back down at his desk finally. Lance swallowed and stood up, walking towards the door, though he paused when Zarkon spoke again. “And Lance? I expect great things from you. Do not disappoint me, as the others have.”

Nyma Sørensen was still at her desk when Lance exited the office, and she glanced up from her phone, her blond curls bouncing and shifting as she moved. She was still popping her bubble gum, though now with a small grin on her pink lips as she watched Lance with more interest now.

“No yelling~, so you got promoted huh?” She asked, her tone suddenly more cheerful than bored by his existence. Not getting fired probably improved his chances with her.

“Uh, yeah, I guess so,” Lance agreed. It left him feeling bold too and he sauntered over to lean lightly on her desk, putting on his trade mark flirtatious grin. “Don't suppose you would want to help me celebrate that? Like, tonight?” He asked. Nyma giggled a little at that, fluttering her long eyelashes at him. Up close, Lance could tell she really was wearing contacts for the purple eyes.

“That sounds good~, you can pick me up in front of the building at six~,” she said cheerfully and Lance grinned, winked at her, and left. He would be back at five of course, he had a date with a hot blonde now on top of his promotion.

* * *

 

Lance yawned and sipped his coffee as he arrived in to work the following morning. The date had been... well, abysmal. Nyma was giggly, pretty, and stroked Lance's ego, but just a little too much. She told him almost nothing about herself, and Lance had a sinking feeling she was only into him because he had been promoted. He got the sense she was more interested in the figure on his paycheck then in him.

He went into one of the basement lab elevators, the buttons read only four. 'B1, B2, B3, B4', pretty white little letters and numbers with the braille accompaniment beside them. A key card pass was required for each one and a couple of others swiped and pressed their buttons. Lance was not entirely sure what to do here, but he swiped anyways. The swipe card blinked a yellow light once but nothing more happened. A yellow light? The others had a green flash when they swiped theirs.

The first two got off at level two. The third at level three. Then it continued down. The red '4' flashed in the box, then '5', '6', '7', there really were other labs. That was a little disconcerting to learn, but he shook it off and when the red '12' displayed the ding sounded, and the doors opened. Lance stepped out after taking a breath, and looked around.

The lab he stepped into was huge, much larger than he had expected. Certainly larger than one of the upper level labs he had worked in before, and probably larger than some of the higher up basement labs. Every manner of machine and testing equipment was here and he chugged the rest of his coffee down quickly before walking through the security check and swiping his card again to go through, still looking around curiously.

“You must be new here,” A voice said, feminine, and Lance jumped a little. He looked ahead again, for the source of the voice and found it in a woman he did not recognize The woman was medium height, with white hair, older. She had a very stern face that told Lance that she did not put up with any kind of nonsense.

“Uh, yes. I was assigned here yesterday, today is my first day,” Lance said with a nervous smile.

“Of course. Come with me. Welcome to the Arch Project. My name is Haggar, I'm sure President Zarkon at least filled you in on the classified nature of our work here?” She asked. Haggar's voice was terse, and made Lance instinctively straighten his posture and want to call her ma'am.

“Yes. No one under clearance level ten,” Lance said with a nod. Haggar nodded once in return and scowled before turning to walk and motioned him to follow. Lance fell into step behind her obediently.

“On July seventh, 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico there was a crash in the desert. The official story is a weather balloon. And the conspiracy theorist story is that it was an extraterrestrial ship, aliens from another world, who crash landed. The truth is more complicated. We do not know what it is that crashed to earth that day, but we know whatever it is, it is alive, and hasn't woken up since it landed here on earth.” Haggar spoke tersely, as if all of this were well known fact.

Lance, quite frankly, was excited to be hearing all of this. His friend Katie was a huge conspiracy nut, believed in the UFO version of events. Lance wished he could tell her about all that he was about to learn, tell her he was working on the Roswell Incident of all things now.

“Wait, wasn't uh, whatever it was that crashed at Area 51?” Lance asked, feeling stupid when she glared at him.

“Yes, originally it was. We have a... contract, if you will, with the military. We're studying it on their behalf, as we have greater research capacity here then they do. Area 51 tests airplanes now. The official story is actually true for once. Here we are. As I said, we don't know what crashed. It looks, well, it looks human enough, but whatever it is, can't be.” She said, pressing in a code on a special tank.

The lid opened and Lance took an automatic step backwards, startled. 'Looks human' was an understatement. He looked totally human to Lance. The man was suspended in a light blue liquid, several nodes atached to measure vital signs. His heart beat, and breathing were quite normal looking, though Lance noted there was no indication of brain waves. He had black hair that floated around his head in a strange, dark halo. His eyes were closed and he was quite naked in the fluid.

“Bit of a startle hm? He's been like this since the crash. His vitals are all stable, despite never receiving nutrients. It would appear he has no need for food or water, nor even oxygen. He has been unconscious since the crash, brain dead from what the original files say. This was what they found in the middle of the crater. Our job is to determine where he came from and what he is. In the mean time we have learned some... interesting things,” Haggar said as she pulled out a syringe. It was remarkably long on the needle, and Lance saw why.

“Don't we um, take him out sometimes to run blood tests?” Lance asked as she inserted the needle through a special port in the side of the tube, getting him right in a vein. The port, Lance noticed, was positioned so it could be done with ease, assuming this man did not move, which Lance was surprised to see he did not when the needle pierced his skin.

“Nope. All tests are run with him inside the chamber. We take him out and his temperature rises to a dangerous level. Watch...” She said, smirking a little and pulling the depressor to draw the being's blood out. Lance stared, his jaw hanging a little in awe. _Silver._ Not red, but silver fluid, thicker than human blood, filled the syringe. She removed it then and Lance was amazed to see a single trace of the silvery blood twirl upwards into the bluish liquid. The spot on his arm vanished quickly though.

“Why is it silver?” He asked, wanting to know everything he could about this.

“We're not sure. What we do know though, is that this creature's blood, whatever it is, has immensely powerful healing properties. Every virus and bacteria we've introduced to it has been rendered inactive. When we introduced it to cancer cells, his blood killed all of the cancerous cells and no normal ones. We're not sure yet what the full scope of those properties are though, nor do we know the side effects yet. We're testing mice right now, you see. Want to see if we can use it as a cure-all for medicine. We could cure anything with a pill if we could replicate whatever it is in his blood that's doing it, but see for yourself, a drop under a microscope...”

Lance listened intently while Haggar spoke and prepared a slide for him and when he looked he understood. There were no cells in this beings blood. That was, assuming this silver fluid actually _was_ blood, and not some other substance.

“Are we sure it's blood? I mean, no known life forms can have cell-less blood right? What about a hair sample? Skin sample? A swabbing from inside his cheek?” Lance asked as he pulled away.

“Can't get the skin or cheek. Fluid he's in would corrupt the samples anyways, blood is the only thing we can get from him. Tried removing hair. Didn't work. He was found in the crater with a few things. A knife, strange clothing, and him. The clothing and knife are over here. Metallurgy tests show no element found on earth or in the known universe, which of course is not much information to go on. We're calling it _Tenebrium_ for the dark colours on it.” She said as she led him over to a couple of cases.

The knife was dark, but not black. It caught the light strangely and there was a rune of some kind on it, near the hilt of the dagger. It shone in a cool bluish purple. Lance had never seen anything like it, and he would be quick to call it alien.

“His clothing doesn't appear to be much in the way of special. Seems to be normal silk, but no one's really paid attention to it since the fifties. One hundred years ago, he crashed. In that time he hasn't eaten, drunk, aged, nor woken. We've done some tests, here, you can see, but we can't get very good images off the x-rays or the MRI. We did notice a strange mark on his back, looks like he was burned. We suspect it might be from atmospheric entry, though he should have been disintegrated from that...” Haggar rambled on and Lance nodded absentmindedly, tuning her out.

The fabric was not normal silk, no way. Looking at it, it looked like it was made from light itself. Lance wondered if he could remove just a small piece off it, to study it. He wondered if he could get permission to take the strange being out of the tank.

“Is there a specific task you want me focused on or am I free to study whatever I'd like? Do we have a name for uh, that guy?” Lance asked. He was already itching to get to work. There wasn't much point in working on the blood right now, it seemed a lot of study was already being done there. The knife held some promise, but Lance was curious too about the clothing he had been found in.

“Well, you're free more or less to do what you want to. If you're working on research started by another, take direction from them though. We're calling him a lot of different things, so I suppose it depends what you like. Officially he's named 'Extrarius' but unofficially I've heard him called everything from 'Martian' to 'Angel' to 'Johnathan',” Haggar said with a shrug of her shoulders. It was such a casual movement for such a stern, stiff woman that Lance was genuinely surprised when she did not simply break in two.

“Any rules?” He asked.

“Nothing can be destroyed or cut up. And you can't remove Extrarius. Other then that, test whatever you like, however you like,” She said. Lance gave a nod to that and decided to start with looking at what had already been done. That way he could see what still needed doing, and choose what he wanted to focus on.

 


	2. Requests for Experimentation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance wants to know more about Extrarius, even if some things have already been tried, but Haggar insists his request will be denied. Lance is going to try either way of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is not as popular as the others I'm writing, but I really need to tell it so it's going to be continued anyways. As many people guessed, Extrarius is Keith, he just won't really wake up for a bit.

Lance scowled in concentration as he stared at the printouts of the x-ray's and the MRI's they had put Extrarius through. The images were all distorted, probably due to the cooling fluid that they had him suspended in, but there was something strange about them too. He could see bones in places they should be, yes, legs, arms, skull, those looked normal enough. Extrarius seemed to have something happening in his chest though that was severely abnormal, at least by human standards. The same anomalies appeared too on the MRI scans, and Lance could not make heads nor tails of this. What he needed was a clear picture.

He had spent the first three days looking over notes and research, absorbing every iota of information that he could from what everyone who had worked on the Arch Project had so far gleaned. He had been genuinely shocked by just how little they did know. So far, his blood had extraordinary healing properties when in contact with earth illnesses, he looked more or less like a human, and he had to be kept in a cooling liquid to keep him from over heating and risking combustion into flame -it was theorized it may actually be oxidization causing this, whatever Extrarius was, it seemed he was not suited to life on the planet Earth.

There had been batteries of tests over the years, as technologies advanced. At first, Extrarius had been kept in liquid nitrogen -in fact, he had been super cooled in it right up until 2023, when they developed something else for him. Lance was genuinely amazed that they had not completely destroyed him or killed him by doing that, but according to this, even kept in that, his pulse continued, and he seemed to be breathing in it -and there was enough video to prove that one. It was not until 2025 that they had drawn blood and began to test it.

The first MRI's and x-rays were more or less useless now too, back from the pre-2000's era's most likely, and older than Lance was, and he had mostly ignored them, though now he did place those older x rays up too. The abnormalities in his chest showed in every one, and one scientist -some one who no longer worked here probably- had once taken a focus on it, as Lance was now. A few notes written here and there pondering what could be causing it.

_'Nitrogen?'_ , _'Damaged Machine...', 'Limbs?',_ and  _'Different rib cage design'_ were the ones Lance focused on. Broken machine was impossible unless every machine this lab had ever had in it was broken. The odds of such a thing were astronomical. Nitrogen was a possibility, it could be the liquid they had him in now was causing that too, and really there was no way to be sure about that unless Extrarius was removed. The other two options were the most likely. There must be something very much not human in Extrarius's chest that caused the distortions both on the xray and the MRI scans. 

The x rays dated back all the way to the date of discovery, and these ones, now that Lance looked, were interesting. Extrarius had several broken bones, including some that seemed to be a part of the distortion itself. Both arms, both legs, the hips, several vertebrae, and something inside the distortion. Perhaps some ribs and vertebrae but the distortions looked different too, like they had re-arranged themselves for later images.

Oddly enough the notes showed no indication that Extrarius had received medical attention after his fall to earth. He had been placed in a tube and had pictures taken, but no one had set his bones, and yet the images just a day later showed he was fully healed? Lance looked over at the tube now from where he worked, frowning in concern. No x rays or MRI's had been done in over a decade now, Lance supposed the technology could only progress so far and with so many on file many may have considered it a waste of time, when they could be experimenting on the blood samples. Assuming the silver stuff re ally  _ was _ blood, and Lance was not entirely sold on this. 

There was more to think on this before he applied to run some tests there, but they needed either a new tank, or else some way of removing him from the tank entirely. The notes in all his files said it was too risky though, his temperature always rose terribly fast and they were convinced he would combust or die. Extrarius was definitely alive if the monitor was an indication, but Lance did wonder too. It should be okay to open for just long enough to slip on some sensors to monitor brain waves, right? Some how this one was over looked.

Physically, yes, Extrarius was alive. His heart rate remained steady, his lungs seemed to be moving, and his chest rose and fell inside the tube to indicate as such. They could draw blood -or some kind of fluid- from him even though he was submerged in fluid that should have flash frozen all of his flesh, and it appeared to be a limitless supply, unless he was replenishing this supply. Lance frowned as he read over the file listing blood draws. Each one had a date, a time, and a reason for why they were withdrawing, and which files to refer to for the tests done, except for...

One time, every twenty-eight days on the nose, there was a withdrawal made -or what appeared to be if Lance was reading all these charts correctly. No, it was not listed in the book, but there was always a small change in Extrarius' blood pressure and a momentary increase in heart rate when it was done. On the full moon, every full moon, at around midnight when the lab was emptied of people, the same anomaly happened in the charts. But why would anyone take the blood and not list it? It was not like they had limits to how much they could take or even how often, so long as they logged it.

“Weird,” Lance murmured to himself, before filling out the application he needed. He would need permission to open the tube after all, but they could keep him mostly submerged if they needed to. Lance wanted to see his brain waves, needed to know if he had them at all or if their test subject was brain dead. He hoped no one argued too much about it, but the few seconds they needed for the nodes to be attached to Extrarius' forehead.

“Wonder what your brain can tell us,” Lance said softly to the tube, watching him quietly. Lance had not really noticed just _how_ beautiful Extrarius was, but now that he looked, Extrarius was definitely his type. Well, other than the whole 'in a test tube, probably not really alive any more, and not of this world' thing.

Extrarius' black hair framed his face, fanning out like a dark halo in the freezing liquid around a soft, round face. Like this he looked asleep to Lance, his chest rising and falling as though he was breathing, eye's closed. His nose was small, long eye lashes, his lips were lush and full. Lance noticed too that his neck was long, but his collar bone stuck out just a little bit, and then down into muscles that may as well have been sculpted from marble, like an ancient greek statue or something. The only problem of course was that he looked ghastly pale, though Lance suspected that might be the bad florescent lighting along the tube he was being kept in. No one looked good under florescent lights.

“Mr. McClain!” Lance jumped at Haggar's voice, turning to face her and swallowing sheepishly.

“Yes Ma'am? I mean, what is it?” Lance asked, turning a bit pink now. Not only had he accidentally called Haggar 'Ma'am' -something he had instinctively wanted to do, but did not dare to-, but he had also just been caught ogling their specimen.

“What are you intending to ask for. I can tell you right now most requests are denied these days. Too much risk to Extrarius and it will be denied. _Especially_ if you want to open the tank,” She smirked at him and Lance swallowed again. He suspected that she knew he was terrified of her.

“W-well, I guess the worst I can hear is a no then, but uh, always ask anyways, right?” He grinned sheepishly at that. Shit why was she so terrifying? She was just an old woman!

“Humph. Submit it through there once you're done, you'll hear back from Zarkon in a week or so,” She pointed at the basket labelled 'request forms'. A couple were in there, Lance could see. All of them, from what Lance could tell, would be denied, but Lance suspected his would be accepted somehow. He had noted that while placing nodes on Extrarius, he planned to also obtain a swab of the inside of the cheek, and a hair sample, and he knew he could argue his case to Zarkon too.

* * *

 

“Mr. Zarkon will see you now,” Nyma said, winking at Lance as he sat in the arm chair. He was nervous again, but less so than the last time he was here. Zarkon was a terrifying presence, but Lance knew what to expect too this time. He smiled at Nyma -whom he was surprised was still flirting with him, despite Lance's newfound lack of interest- and then headed inside and sat down across from Zarkon.

Zarkon watched him approach quietly, Lance's request form still in front of him. His expression was unreadable, and the air around him made Lance question if this man could pull someones heart out of their chest. He seemed like the heart-eating type given half the chance.

“Mr. McClain. I did not expect to see you again so soon. Tell me. Why do you think you should be allowed to open the tank when no one has in decades?” He asked. The voice still sent chills of fear down Lance's spine, and he swallowed to gather his nerve again. Lance cleared his throat, sifting through his mind for the right words and then spoke.

“I feel we need to see his brain waves sir, if he has any. The other's on the project listen him as being brain dead, but we do not have any way of knowing that for a fact, and if he has brain waves it could offer us invaluable insight into how he works. While the tank is open to apply the sensory nodes -which you can see I added a blueprint for them as existing ones cannot survive the temperature inside the tank- I would like to collect a swabbing from the inside of his cheek and a small hair sample for study. He has no cells in his blood -assuming the silver liquid we draw _is_ blood, and I feel seeing his cells could further our understanding both of the specimen and the properties of his blood. It is possible the cells we can pull from hair or his cheek will also further our ability to develop cures and drugs. If his blood kills all viruses and bacteria and fungal spores on contact, imagine what his cells might be capable of! We could cure cancer, and that could help save tens of millions of lives! N-not to mention it would be highly profitable for the company,” Lance said. He took a deep breath when he had finished and watched Zarkon carefully, though Zarkon's expression was still unreadable.

“I see. How long do you plan to keep the tank open in this venture, and how do you propose we minimize the damage risk to our specimen?” He asked and Lance grinned a little, elation spiking through his chest. A question like that meant he was probably going to be approved!

“Only for five minutes at the very most sir, though I suspect less time will be needed. We can drain the tank to halfway, and using our specialized equipment for dealing with the fluid and tank maintenance we keep him mostly submerged. Only his head needs to be outside the fluid, and only long enough for us to swab a cheek, cut some hair and pull a few, and attach the nodes to his head. By doing this, he does not risk becoming too warm, as only a portion of his head will be out of the liquid and only for a little while. We will work with the cell-swabbing and the hair samples in the cold room to be safe -though I would like to see if his hair and a cheek swabbing would react the way his body does as well to room temperature?”

“I see. Well then, I think yours at least can be approved. However, if our specimen is damaged during this endeavour, it is you who will be held responsible,” The acceptance came with a warning. One that chilled Lance to his core. He did not know what happened to people who angered Zarkon, but he somehow suspected it was far worse than job loss.

“Y-yes sir! Thank you sir! I will alert you too when I am finished with the sensory nodes for his brain waves sir!” He planned to use the heart rate and blood pressure equipment they used already as a jumping off point for that, though there were some differences needed to be made.

“Excellent. I would like to be present when you open the tank as well. The entire thing will also have to be recorded for our records and of course, future study,” Zarkon said, giving a small wave of his hand now to indicate that Lance was dismissed. Lance hurried out at that, relieved but still frightened too. Zarkon owned large charity organizations, and medical research. He had to be a decent guy, right? Though after meeting him again, Lance was forced to question that belief.

“Still not fired huh~?” Nyma asked as Lance leaned against the door, her pretty blonde curls bouncing as she rested her chin on her left hand, fluttering her eye lashes at Lance. Her eyes were still a fake contact lens purple and though it suited her well enough Lance did find himself wondering about what her real eye colour was.

“Uh, no, still not fired,” Lance managed to shoot her a weak smile earning a quaint little giggle from her. Now that Lance had actually been out with her though it sounded almost fake and the suspicion that she was more interested in the paycheck he earned than in him grew stronger.

“Well then, we should go out again some time?” She asked sweetly. No. Lance smiled again and shook his head no as he headed for the elevator, trying to ignore the irritated pout that his refusal drew from her. As the door to the elevator slid closed to take him down to the basement laboratory again, he thought he heard an insult muttered in his direction, but he could not be sure, and there was not much point in going back to find out.

 


	3. The Tank Opens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tank is opened to apply nodes, but the event leaves Lance with more questions than answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all I was gonna update Moonsong instead, but this story demanded to be written more, so uh, have another chapter I guess! Please let me know what you think, so far this is my least popular fic (but it's also one of my favourites actually... and the most planned out one I have. Oops)

It had been a full three weeks since Lance had first submitted his request to open the containment tank, and the day was here at long last. Lance was so full of nervous energy as he made his way down to the laboratory that morning that he was unable to eat breakfast that morning. When the doors to the elevator opened, the laboratory beyond was already a hive of activity, preparing for what they were about to do. Lance was going to open the tank after all, and for the first time since this one had been built. Lance had done extensive research on how to get what they needed, preparing the nodes, getting an area of the cold room set up, and Haggar had even been oddly kind enough to remind Lance that hair samples were attempted before, unsuccessfully.

No one could seem to pull hair from Extrarius' head with tweezers, and scissors seemed to have bent around his hair rather than cut it. Lance decided to use the knife Extrarius had landed with instead, the material's were not found on earth, so perhaps they would have more luck with that. It was near the tank right now, an ordinary knife, besides it's shape and colour. Lance only hoped that he was right.

It had taken nearly the entire three week period to design and test the prototypes for Extrarius' head, built to survive the sub-zero temperatures in the containment tank he floated in, but they were finally ready and working. The rest of the time since then, only a few days really, was spent waiting for the day when everyone was ready to open it up. President Zarkon would be there too, along with a couple of others who knew about the project without working on it, to supervise their asset and the knowledge that they would be there at all actually made Lance more nervous than opening the tank did.

Lance helped a couple of the other scientists helping him finish getting ready, though he had to do so as well. Special protective gear, clothing, and gloves for the liquid they kept Extrarius in, and finally, masks to avoid accidental contamination. They had gotten the swabs and specimen jars -to be rushed to the cold room as soon as they had it- beside the containment tank with the Tenebrium knife. Everything was set up and ready to go by the time Zarkon arrived with three others.

One man was young, tall, and very handsome, with long, silvery white hair tied back into a loose pony tail at the base of his neck. He wore an expensive looking black suit with an equally expensive looking gold Rolex watch on his wrist. This man had eyes that reminded Lance strongly of Zarkon, a unique shade of green that looked almost yellow, but also piercing and oddly cold, no matter the expression he wore. Like something very important was missing, but Lance could not quite put his thumb on what it might be. His features though were handsome, and one could easily over-look the strange way his eyes seemed to hint at a lack of compassion.

The second was taller, surprisingly much gentler looking. His expression was the sternest of all the men present, but Lance saw his eyes were kind, a gentle brown Whatever the others were missing, Lance suspected this man somehow still had it, even if he seemed to be hiding it. He had a bit of a beard, which surprised Lance, as the other three seemed that they were not facial hair sort of guys, but this man seemed almost fatherly to Lance. His hair was brown but streaking with grey which showed in his beard too. He was shorter than Zarkon and the first man, but taller than the third man who was positively vicious looking.

The third man was as well dressed as the other two, but somehow more pretentious while he did. It must be the monocle over the right eye, or possibly the definitely diamond cuffs and tie clip he had on. Something in his expression, one of odd amusement and curiosity, was very off putting to Lance. Despite the expression he wore, he looked ready to bite out someones throat if they crossed him. Unlike all the others, his hair was cropped very short to his head, and though his eyes were green, like President Zarkon's and the man who looked like he could be President Zarkon's son, they were a less volatile shade of it.

“Lance. Good, are you ready to proceed? My son has come to watch too. Along with two of our board members, Sendak and Thace,” Zarkon said, motioning to each in turn. So Zarkon's younger, slightly thinner, look-alike really was Zarkon junior then? Lance recalled Nyma mentioning him on their date. What a turn off having her ramble about how handsome the C.E.O's son was. Now Lance knew she was right though, Lotor was pretty gorgeous, but the coldness was a turn off. Thace was the nicer looking one, despite being more stern looking, and Sendak was the one who looked like he might eat a person.

“Yes, we are ready sir,” Lance said, before heading to the tank. He looked over at one of the others who punched in the code to begin draining the tank part way and Lance watched, a little nervous as the fluid level began to drop. The alert alarm blared three times to signal that the code to drain the tank was entered, but another code was entered quickly to shut it up. Extrarius' body dipped lower in the tank itself, as the fluid drained out, but they only let it get down to the one quarter level. His body was resting in the curve of the tube by the time the fluid was low enough to open the tank up, unsealing it at its middle.

Extrarius' features had been somewhat distorted by the fluid and glass, but even so, Lance had always thought he was pretty gorgeous to look at, and had certainly stared longer than was acceptable to stare at a naked, probably brain dead man who fell from space. Now, however, with nothing to alter his features, he was heart stoppingly beautiful. His dark hair, now stuck to the glass and Extrarius' forehead, cheeks, and neck, was a little longer than most men would keep their hair. _Stuck in the eighties even back in the forties~,_ Lance thought to himself. First thing on he and another applied the nodes to Extrarius' head in a few key locations, getting the wires moved through and onto the other side of the tank where they could hook them up to monitors properly. 

Then Lance grabbed the knife and some of Extrarius' hair. He paused just a moment before running the knife through it, and sure enough -though the hair put up a fight- whatever this Tenebrium stuff was, it could cut Extrarius' hair as someone set the brain wave monitors up and someone else watched his temperature. As he set the knife aside though, and the hair in a container to be rushed to the cold room, he noticed something odd. The rune on the knife seemed to be glowing slightly, the same purplish blue it was, and slowly growing brighter, the longer the tank was open. It was definitely producing light suddenly, instead of simply existing as a distinct colour. 

“We're up three degrees, still below the set safety temperature by five degrees,” The one monitoring Extrarius' body temperature warned, snapping Lance's attention back to the matter at hand suddenly. They still had some time left, but not much as his temperature rose rapidly. Lance wished he could remember the names of the three helping him, but Lance was only good with names when someone was very cute or extremely terrifying, and these people had barely spoken three words to him before today, other than Haggar.

“We have the nodes connected and working. Turning on the monitor now, and he's- I don't believe it, we have brain waves! Dude, you were right, he has brain waves! He isn't brain dead! We might actually be able to wake him up!” The other, a woman said excitedly. Lance grinned widely at her in response, noticing she did not use his name either. Chances were, she did not know his either, which made him feel a bit less guilty about having forgotten hers. Brain waves, they really had-

“Lance. The swab,” Haggar snapped, reminding him to do what he was supposed to be doing. She had been angry and short with Lance ever since Lance had gotten approval to do this, and Lance suspected it was because she had not been approved for other endeavours where opening the tank was concerned. Or rather, Haggar had been angrier than usual, she seemed to be perpetually pissed off at something to Lance. 

“Uh, right! Sorry,” Lance said, before gently pulling open Extrarius' jaw. He had teeth, perfect looking and white, and his skin felt surprisingly warm through the gloves that Lance was wearing. He ran four swabs on the inside of Extrarius' cheek, one at a time, before he handed them off, closed up, to someone else to have them rushed to the cold room. On a whim, Lance moved his hand around to check the burn pattern on his back, but when Extrarius moved, the pattern did too. 

“What the-” Lance murmured. The skin seemed to move, coming off, just a little bit at the tips of the patterns. Small triangles, it seemed, and Lance could not be sure if what he was feeling and seeing were feathers, scales, or skin. He ran a hand over the strange pattern, paying much closer attention to it. It was definitely not stuck to Extrarius' back, like skin _should_ be, moving with Lance's fingers a little bit as he ran them over the blackish marks. Lance could not guess at the texture, not with the gloves on, but Extrarius' back was still in the fluid that remained in the tank.  
  
“Times up, let's close him off again,” The one monitoring temperature called. That meant Extrarius had hit unsafe human temperatures, and it was time to end this again. Lance moved away and helped get everything back in place before the fluid began rushing back in. Extrarius' face was tilted towards Lance though, and while he watched there was a flicker of movement Lance did not expect. His eye's fluttered, and Lance swore he could see a sliver of violet but the fluid washed over him and the motion stopped. When Lance got over the shock, Extrarius' eyes were closed again and Lance was not sure if he really had seen it, or if he had merely imagined it. It wasn't until Extrarius' temperature had dropped down below human body temperature a few degree's everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. 

“We got everything we needed, right? Let me see this,” Lance said, moving to look at the monitor to take a look. With eye movement then the waves should definitely be there, but the activity was dropping with Extrarius' body temperature, and right now it read almost like he was asleep. Lance did wonder if he was aware in there, but either way he was grinning from ear to ear. 

“Wow. We should poke him with something sharp right? See if it registers?” One of the others said, grinning as widely as Lance was. There was a slight flicker in the waves they were getting, but Lance ignored it right now, nodding in agreement as Haggar got the needle to extract blood from Extrarius. A large spike registered when the needle pushed into his arm, withdrawing the sliver fluid, and Lance frowned at that, curious, strangely worried suddenly. 

He wondered if he could study this for a while on his own, the brain waves, the scarring. But most importantly,  _those eyes_ . Things were settling down a little bit now though, the two board members talking with Lotor and Zarkon quietly. Zarkon looked almost relieved, in Lance's opinion, but he supposed that made sense. No damage to the specimen after all, and though Lance was relieved too that Extrarius did not combust, but something inside him was so curious about the movement. Assuming the movement he had seen was real that was, no one else mentioned it, and Lance wondered if they had seen it at all. 

“We're going to head off now that the collection is over, but please do let us know what you find,” Zarkon said, nodding once to Lance and once to Haggar. He acknowledged no one else in the room, and though the man terrified Lance, it made him feel proud that he was worth recognizing too. Now he just had to find something in the samples they had collected, something new that no one had found before. Lance would start with the swabs from Extrarius' cheek first. There seemed to be no cells in his blood after all, but there had to be some somewhere, if he was to match up with known life. 

* * *

 

A mere three days since the extraction and Lance was staring through the microscope for what had to be the hundredth time in that span. There seemed to be something there sometimes, but the cells -or whatever they were- that they had extracted were strange. It was like their existence was in another dimension, flickering back and forth between that one and this one. Visible if his eyes were unfocused, and gone when he tried to pay attention to it. The mystery of Extrarius had only grown deeper, and the samples raised more questions than answers, but it many ways, it was still more information than they had ever previously had.

The cell samples would not grow or replicate like cells were supposed to for starters. Not only did they not  _act_ like cells, but they did not even look like what Lance recognized  _as_ a cell. There was no mitochondria, no endoplasmic reticulum, smooth or rough, no nucleus, no Golgi apparatus. Lance was not even sure if what he thought might be cytoplasm was actually cytoplasm, or that the cell membrane was really a cell membrane, and there was not a lot of ways he could tell. He could not replicate the cells, so destroying them would be risky, at best, as they were technically irreplaceable. There was no way he could open the tank now to get more, at least not in this decade, and he was at a loss for what to do. 

The hair they collected was almost more interesting than the unusual cells -if they were indeed cells. The hair, unlike all hair he was used to viewing was not scaled. Even parted from Extrarius' body it's tensile strength was stronger than steel, but weaker than tenebrium. Lance found he could not cut the hair even with lasers, the light seemed to simply absorb into the hair instead. When Lance examined the hair he hit with it though, it seemed to be emitting light, but he could not make heads nor tails of how that was possible. Nothing about this was what Lance would call 'normal'.

Lance sighed softly, finally deciding to try something new. He took a strand of hair, and one of the petri dishes with the cells they had taken from Extrarius' cheek, and then took them outside the cold room. He looked both ways, but the lab was empty right now. Lance was working late again, so it was no surprise to him really. He felt his heart racing though, as he walked to a temperature control and set the two items down before bouncing a laser to monitor temperature off first the hair -only a single strand to be safe- and the cells in the other petri dish. 

Everyone had insisted Extrarius would burst into flame in room temperature, that the only way to keep him intact was to keep him in the fluid, eternally suspended. Lance needed to know if that was true, and he watched the hair and cells change temperature. As Lance suspected, the cells certainly read an increase in temperature, but the hair did too. If this  _was_ hair, then it did not act like any living thing on Earth. He watched it climb up, a bit nervous, since he knew this was probably something he might get scolded over. But if this worked, there was a real possibility they were wrong. 

The safety temperature for Extrarius was listed at forty degrees centigrade. When he hit that, it had been time to close the containment tank and pour the below-freezing liquid mixture back inside the tank with him. Even with that though, his temperature remained steady at twenty degrees centigrade. Well below human body temperature, but not below freezing. Lance watched the dial as it hit forty now for both the cells and the hair he had, and then waited. 

He waited for six minutes. The temperature went up all the way to forty-three, and then held steady there. No flame burst, no combustion, it simply held steady. Certainly, this was a brain melting temperature for a human to be, but Extrarius was not human either, this was becoming increasingly obvious -as if falling from space and crashing into the earth was not obvious enough. Lance moved the samples back to the cold room, where they steamed slightly, before returning outside and going to the tank to watch his brain waves. 

“What are you?” Lance asked as he passed the tank, hand lightly touching the glass. Even with fifteen centimetre thick glass, the tank felt slightly cold to Lance. The glass was frost proof though, or Lance was sure it would build up on it. There was no movement inside the tank, just Extrarius, floating silently as ever. Lance took a read on the brain waves, entering them from there into his own files, as well as his observations when he sat down to type it all up. No one went through his work here right now, which was nice, or he might get fired for risking the samples. But if Extrarius' hair and cheek cells did not combust, did that mean Extrarius would not either? 

Lance really was curious. More than ever, he wanted to open the tank again, but doing so would be a stupid move to make. No, he could research what they had for now. There was no reason to open the tank again. 

When Lance dreamed that night, it was the same dream that he had been getting since the tank was opened. A sliver of violet and an sense of extreme urgency. And for a moment he would see himself, blurred through glass and bluish, freezing liquid, before he would wake up in a cold sweat. 

 

 


	4. Voltron

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has a recurring nightmare and a cyber attack in the middle of the night makes him question what he knows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how 'bout that season 3 eh? Did not see _that_ plot twist coming. Anyways, apologies for the long wait, I have a lot going on in my life, but hopefully things will be more or less on track now. I am going to be at animethon this weekend though, as Keith and my girlfriend will be Lance so if you're there wave halloo (but p sure most of you are not Canadian). In other news this is no longer my least popular fic and y'all I want to cry from how much support I've gotten from everyone! I love all of you, and I hope you continue to enjoy my works!

The dream was the same as it had been for the past week. Lance was back in the lab, staring at Extrarius as the tank filled up, the specimen's face tilted towards Lance so he could take in every non-distorted detail of his face, a rare opportunity. Normally, at this point in the dream, Lance would see that little sliver of violet, as though Extrarius had opened his eyes. It would last a fraction of a second, and then Lance would see himself, distorted and through the glass of that tank and the fluid filling it, as though he _were_ Extrarius. The dream would end, as it always did, with Lance waking up in a cold sweat, his heart pounding in his chest. Tonight though, it took a different turn. When Extrarius should have opened his eyes, instead the whole scene shifted to something Lance had not experienced yet.

Lance was in blackness, nothing around him. No walls, no floor, though he stood on _something_ all the same. When Lance turned around in the emptiness, he saw the tank, though it was not laying horizontally as it should. It stood vertically, Extrarius' face level with his own, and floating inside the fluid, hair floating all around his face in a way that reminded Lance of the old stained glass windows of the Madonna in the church his mother made him go to when he was little. Lance swallowed softly and walked towards the tank, but a large part of him was aware this was not real somehow. Lance was asleep after all, and yet knowing this he could not find a way to wake himself from within this dream.

“Hello?” Lance called, trying to ignore the way his voice shook. “A dream, this is a dream, just a dream.” He began saying softly as he approached the tank, vividly aware that he was asleep in his bed, and yet, also here. Lance wanted more than anything to wake up, but he was not sure how to do it and the pull towards the tank was too strong to fight. When Lance reached the tank inside of the dream he pressed his hand to it. Even though this was a dream it felt as cold as it did in reality, but there was movement inside. Extrarius placed his hand against Lance's, the thick glass separating them by inch thick glass. The motion caused Lance to jump in shock and panic. Lance kept his gaze fixed to the hand, dread growing in his heart before he managed to force himself to look up, his heart racing as he did.

Extrarius' eyes were wide open, violet and angry. But in the same moment, Extrarius' eyes were not violet. They were they were brown, they were red, they were gold and green and blue. They were every colour all at once and it frightened Lance, and somehow all the same he felt a sudden and powerful calmness overcome him as he stared into those beautiful, inhuman eyes.

Extrarius said nothing and everything somehow with a look. His expression begged Lance, begged to be freed, but Lance could not have explained how he knew what Extrarius wanted from him. Lance could not explain a great deal about any of this, not about his awareness, the vivid, reality-like state. Not how the tank felt cold except where Extrarius' hand was, separated from Lance's own. Was this really only a dream?

“What do you want?” Lance asked, though he already knew what Extrarius wanted. How could Lance give that to him though? How could he possibly know? And most importantly, why should he when this was only a dream, and Extrarius could not possibly be looking through him, and into Lance's very soul right now? The sense of urgency grew, fear and desperation mingling together inside him, and Lance was hyper-aware that these were not his own emotions he was feeling, but Extrarius. Extrarius was afraid?

Lance sat up with a gasp though now, eyes snapping open to take in his dark bedroom, lit an eerie blue shade by the street lights outside his home. This was reality, Lance reminded himself, and that was a dream. A horrifying nightmare that made no sense that he should just forget about. Lance glanced at his phone, which was ringing all too loudly, and woke him up at probably the worst possible moment, but it was the ringtone for work, so even though his phone told him it was two thirty-six in the morning Lance pressed the green accept button and placed the phone to his ear, leaning over as it was still attached to the charger.

“Hello?” Lance asked, voice shaking as he answered. It was only a dream, why was he so unsettled by it? Why did it feel so _real_?

“Lance? This is Ulaz from the night security team. We need everyone to get in here as soon as is possible. There has been a rather unfortunate and large security breach in your lab,” the calm voice said. Lance recognized the voice too, Ulaz was often on duty when Lance would leave for the night lately, but a security breach? Had someone accidentally taken something out of the lab? Or worse, intentionally?

“It's really late, this can't wait until morning?” Lance asked, though the adrenaline from his dream meant he was already wide awake, and really he was not terribly keen on going back to sleep after the intensity of the dream. This one was so much more real than any he had ever had before.

“President Zarkon has requested every member of the Arch Project come to the lab immediately. A vehicle has already been dispatched to your home address to bring you in safely, along with everyone else,” Ulaz responded, his voice still as calm as it ever was, and Lance sighed softly. Admittedly the gentle calmness of Ulaz's voice helped calm Lance down too, and he needed it, after the unsettling nightmare about Extrarius.  
  
“All right, fine, fine. I guess I am coming in at three in the morning,” Lance tried to sound less than happy about it, but it must be more than a missing sample to warrant something like this after all. Lance hung the phone up and swung his feet over the edge of the bed, resting his face in his hands for a moment before he turned on the lamp beside his bed and hunted down something he could wear. Lance would not bother with professional, they would have to deal with him being casual if they were going to insist he come in at this time. Even if he was wide awake thanks to nightmares about Extrarius. Lance almost dreaded seeing the specimen more than whatever awaited him at the lab.

* * *

 

When Lance arrived, at first he was a little amused by the sight. He took an elevator down with a half a dozen others on the project, some in casual wear, and a couple in pyjamas -one wearing lion slippers- all in varying states of exhaustion. Lance stopped being amused when the elevator reached their floor and they stepped out.

There were a few people from the tech department, Zarkon, Thace, Haggar, and two security personnel, one of whom was Ulaz. The lab was fully lit, rather than its usual late-night half-lit stage, to save electricity and Lance was a little concerned at first. Lance was a lot concerned when he caught a glimpse at the laboratory screens though.

Each and every screen with only one exception he could see held precisely the same image on it. A stylized, teal 'V' that stretched the whole screen, and everyone knew what it was. Voltron. But why would they hack the GAC? From what Lance understood, they often targeted major corporations that were guilty of severe ethical violations, or other kinds of terrible things. The GAC was guilty of no such thing, Zarkon was in no way evil, even if his mere presence was completely terrifying. The only screen not showing the Voltron logo, Lance noted, was the one that displayed Extrarius' blood pressure and heart rate, and Lance could only assume the same was true of the brain wave readout screen as well.

“They had to have found the back door, there's no other explanation for this sir. It could be no one helped them inside, they most likely knew their way in already,” The technician said, sighing as he glanced at the assembling exhausted scientists. Lance felt his scientific side take over too, and he went to check on Extrarius, and his systems quickly in worry. He breathed a sigh of relief only when he saw that everything was functioning normally. The only screens without the 'V' on them were the ones involving Extrarius himself.

“Closed system, nothing in the tank is connected to the rest of the systems,” Ulaz said to Lance calmly as Lance finished checking on Extrarius.

“Yeah. I-I know, it's just, I was worried anyways,” Lance knew Extrarius had to be safe, but it was more than just his own scientific curiosity about their specimen lately. The dreams had to mean _something_ after all, right? But still the question on his mind was why Voltron would come after them. And who could have helped them? The technician had said something about them knowing how to get it? 

“We are going to investigate the matter all the same,” Zarkon said, his tone surprisingly calm, and yet the chill that ran through Lance was immense.

“What all was taken?” Thace asked calmly too, looking more worried than Zarkon did, but everyone looked more worried than Zarkon did. Zarkon seemed not to feel a thing. Lance assumed he was just very good at hiding his concern.

“We do not know yet, but we will be able to find out soon. Much of the data was secured through paper, and not entered into the systems, and so that material should be quite safe. It is doubtful they know what we are doing here beyond disease research, and I am quite certain this attack was out of curiosity. Although the potential does exist that some classified information will be released, it is unlikely they would have found anything worthwhile, nothing on Extrarius was permitted inside the databases as it was, and so they will not have gotten much information about him, if any. No doubt they know we are keeping _something_ here though, I believe the tank designs are stored in the databases, back when the new tank was first designed, however they cannot begin to know _what_ it is, as we do not really know either.” The IT woman said. Lance could not remember her name, but he had seen her a few times around the lab before, mostly upgrading things. 

“I mean they won't tell the public that though either,” Lance said without thinking, earning a look from all of them, and he shivered again with Zarkon's cold stare. It felt like Extrarius' stare in some ways, like Zarkon could stare right into his soul, but the strange calm warmth was absent.

“And why do you believe that, Lance?” Haggar asked, and her tone was suspicious enough that Lance was a touch offended by it, not that he would dare to admit to it.

“W-well I mean, they didn't get anything really, right? They don't know what's in the tank, what are they going to do, leak that to the media? 'The GAC has a tank in a lab researching diseases, but we can't tell you what it's for, didn't figure that part out!', I mean, come on, the only people who would go up in arms are conspiracy theorists, and I don't think the media wants a half a story anyways. At least, no where reputable. We might get a mention in a tabloid, but no one really believes those, and anyone who does isn't exactly a real threat to us. All we would have to do anyways is make a statement that of _course_ we keep tanks here, we're researching dangerous diseases. I mean, we have Ebola, smallpox, Hantavirus, Marburg, AIDS and a dozen other lethal viruses to test out on Extrarius samples, all we have to do is inform them that per normal medical practices we are using the tanks to test the viruses in controlled settings, and no one will care” Lance said, which seemed to cause a sigh of relief in most of the scientists. Certainly Haggar relaxed, though Thace and Ulaz did not. Zarkon might have, but it was frustratingly difficult to tell with that man. 

“Good. He may be dead without us, but I doubt the masses will see the wisdom in keeping him here. Both for his sake and our own. It is best if they never learn of him, or if they do that it is after we meet others from beyond our planet. Knowing we have an extraterrestrial being would in all likelihood cause mass hysteria, after all,” Zarkon said finally, which caused Lance to relax a little bit too. All the same, something gnawed at Lance's conscience. Voltron only went after truly heinous places or people after all. Was it possibly they had attacked the wrong lab? Or been fed wrong information? Or was the technician right, was this about their own curiousity? If the latter though, why would they have told the GAC they had been hacked by flashing their logo all over their screens like this? 

But then again, maybe the GAC and Zarkon were not as good as Lance had thought they were. The idea he might have been wrong about someone though, about something so huge was one he tried to push from his mind though, at least for the time being. If he thought too hard about it, it meant that Lance might be helping something evil after all, and Lance only wanted to help people. That was why he was _here_ of all places, after all. Some of the people he worked with were scary. That did not mean they were evil though, right? And if Extrarius really did burst into flames -something Lance was starting to doubt in the back of his mind- then it _would_ be best to keep him in the tank.

All he could really do for now though was continue his work, and see where it lead him. Lance only hoped he was doing the right thing, but if Extrarius _could_ wake up and _was_ sentient, was it really right to keep him here? And if this was the case, what could Lance possibly do about it anyways?  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also for those wondering, Hunk, Katie, Shiro, Allura, and Coran will be making their first appearances very soon! (Not the next chapter necessarily, but very soon!)


	5. Bad Movies, Blood theft, and an Existential Crisis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance tries to study Extrarius' clothing after confirming that someone is stealing blood. When he gets home though, he learns there really might be more to this than he's thought, as a mysterious organization contacts him for help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated another fic today too, I'm on a roll lately! I found a really great cafe to write in, and I get a lot done while I'm there, it's great! Also Hunk and Pidge finally show up!
> 
> Anyways, please leave a comment, literally anything, this fic generally generates a lot less in attention especially in the comments department. I can't know if people are reading it if only like 3 people leave a comment!

“Hypothetically, how bad would it be if someone found an alien and kept them in a state of suspended animation to run experiments on them to save humanity?” Lance asked, laying on the too-floral couch of his best friend Hunk. He was with his two best friends in the world in fact, Hunk, and Katie, on a fine Thursday evening. Tonight was bad movie night, and they all got together to watch terrible movies -tonight it was Airplane vs Volcano.

“Well, that depends, is this hypothetical alien a bad alien or a good alien?” Hunk asked, looking a touch confused, but not suspicious.

“What if, again, all hypothetical, it was unconscious and would be destroyed in our atmosphere because it would combust into flames if over exposed to oxygen? But it was impossible to know if the hypothetical alien was good or bad, or even sentient?” Lance asked.

“Mm, well, I would say there would be a responsibility to keep it alive right?” Hunk asked, looking thoughtful.

“No way! Lance, are you telling me you have an unconscious alien in your lab?” Katie asked, poking her head outside of the kitchen. She was busy making more food. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, since peanut butter anything was her favourite. Not peanuts though, oddly enough.

“No Katie. I said _hypothetically_ remember? Besides, if an alien crashed to earth I think we would all know about it. Aren't they supposed to be in area 51 anyways?” Lance asked. ' _Yes I have an alien, that's why I am asking if it's ethically okay for me to experiment on him when there is a real chance he is still alive and has some semblance of sentience in there,'_ Lance thought to himself. Keeping this a secret was beginning to prove difficult, and he regretted bringing it up, but he did not know what to do any more. 

“Oh, right. Yeah, I guess it would make more sense. The military is covering up aliens, they _are_ on earth, or have been Lance, but _as_ it's the military covering it up, it would be in a military facility or a government based research facility, not with a public sector facility or a conglomerate like the GAC,” Katie frowned thoughtfully and nodded, before vanishing back to finish making her sandwiches. Lance wondered how she could say so much without pausing to breathe. Thank goodness she bought it though, considering she was such a conspiracy nut. That might have been what saved him this time though, since it would be the military she believed to be guilty. Lance was basically living her wet dream the last few weeks though, and the longer he stayed on the project, the less sure he was about it's legitimacy. 

Lance knew what he was told and what he had been able to see on his own. He was told Extrarius would burst into flames if he was exposed too long to earths air, that his body temperature would rise to too dangerous a level and it would destroy the specimen entirely. But then, Lance had also been told Extrarius was brain dead and had been for a hundred years. Lance knew now, without any doubt, that Extrarius had brain waves. They moved like someone in a coma, registered pain when he was poked with a needle, and there was the flash of violet Lance swore he had seen before the fluid had washed over Extrarius and plunged his temperature down again. The flash of violet that Lance saw in his nightmares every night since then, though the stranger dream, the one he had experienced the night they were hacked had happened only the once.

Even in a liquid mixture that was well below freezing though, something that would kill a human in mere seconds if they were submerged in it, Extrarius had a core temperature of about twenty four degrees centigrade. They had let him get to forty degrees when they opened the tank and then returned his temperature down to twenty four, but even so, the hair and cell samples both held steady at forty three degrees, neither burst into flames. If Extrarius really was going to climb in temperature all the way to combustion, then surely it would have happened to his hair and cells? Assuming they were cells, Lance was still unsure of it as he still could not identify anything about them that was really cell like when compared to human ones. 

“I think, Lance, if there was ever a hypothetical alien, you would do the right thing,” Hunk assured him, patting his shoulder gently now, and Lance snapped out of his thoughts. Hunk was smiling, blissfully unaware of what Lance was thinking and what Lance knew. 

“Yeah. You're right. No point in worrying about a situation that will never happen anyways though, right?” Lance joked with a small grin. He had to pretend this really was just a random, out of the blue hypothetical thing that he was thinking about.

“If it did happen though, you _would_ tell us about it, right Lance?” Katie asked as she sat down, taking a bite out of her sandwich as she sat on Lance's legs. He was taking up the whole couch after all, and such was his punishment. At least she weighed virtually nothing.

“Yeah, obviously. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't tell you guys about aliens? Especially _you_ pigeon!” Lance grinned, though he did feel another small flash of guilt at that. 

“Good. Excellent. Don't call me pigeon,” Katie said, grinning too, though Hunk looked uncertain. He said nothing further on the topic though, and Lance let it drop too, as it was easier to focus on other things, the least of which was a terribly unscientific movie about an Airplane trapped in the middle of a hundred volcano's somehow.

* * *

 

Lance's eyes raked over the documents from the night before, and he worried about what he was seeing. He held the readouts for brain waves and the blood pressure measurements from Thursday night, which was the full moon. The same time every month he had noted a blood pressure drop prior to the brain waves being monitored, he now saw something new. The same spike in pain that Extrarius' brain produced when Lance or Haggar or anyone else drew blood from him, at the same time that his blood pressure dropped. It meant someone had taken blood, but not logged the extraction unlike all other blood withdrawals. Someone was definitely stealing Extrarius' blood, but for what he could not even begin to guess. 

Lance sighed softly and set it down. He was reluctant to bring this up with Haggar or Zarkon, in the off chance one of them was doing this or had authorized another scientist to do so, and they wanted it kept off the books, but Lance wondered if perhaps he could simply work late on the night it would happen. It was always at the full moon, after all, and there were no rules about working late on any night, so theoretically he would not get in trouble for it, right? 

He sighed softly and scratched his head, looking around the laboratory now, but there was only a couple of others milling about right now, finishing up on their projects for the night. It was getting later, and it was a Friday night, so Lance imagined most of his coworkers would like to return home or go out to relax and have fun. Lance stood up and walked over to where the knife and clothing were kept. So far he had looked at everything but the clothing, and the knife was missing anyways -with another of the team no doubt, probably Garrett. 

Lance picked up the clothing gently, carrying it back to his station for now. It felt far different from what he had expected it too. It was warm, and extremely light weight, like carrying nothing more than a couple of feathers, and so smooth it felt almost as though it did not exist at all. Lance set up and looked under a microscope first, but again it was frustratingly different from anything he had seen on earth. 

There were no visible strands, no threads, nothing at all! Lance sighed, and supposed he really should have seen this coming, before he moved on to the electron microscope. Normally this would give him an even better picture, but it failed to register anything was there to begin with which was leaving Lance with more questions than answers again. A useless endeavour, but he wanted to know now what this fabric was made out of. If Lance did not know any better he would guess it was made out of light itself, but that was impossible. Whatever it was though, certainly did not exist on earth, much like the knife or Extrarius himself. 

Lance returned it very quickly, more frustrated than anything else, and unsure of what to think now. What in hell was Extrarius? What was his clothing, what was his knife, what was  _any_ of this? Lance wanted more than anything to wake him up and simply ask him, demand answers from him, but there was no way he could. And anyways, Extrarius likely did not speak English  _or_ Spanish, so how was Lance to get his answers even then? There would be no way to speak to him, ultimately, and Lance knew he would be lucky to even keep his job if he tried it. What a bother. So many questions, so few answers, and horrible, horrible nightmares was all this job had given him so far. 

* * *

 

When Lance made it home that night, he was glad to put his feet up and rest with a drink he had made for himself. Vodka and lemon soda. He had not bothered with Thursday, and watching bad movies with his friends while eating peanut butter everything had been a good way to blow some stress off, but today he was stuck with even more questions. And even more stress as a result.

Lance planned to spend the evening -and possibly the whole weekend- killing stuff in a video game, but first, email. Spam, spam, spam, oh, a sale! He went through one at a time getting rid of things, but then there was one that gave him pause. It looked like it was probably spam, but something off putting about it made him want to open it.  _'Urgent. Please Read. To Lance McClain.'_ and his email registered the sender as 'unknown' _._ Please let it be spam and not a virus. This was a very stupid risk, but Lance clicked it open anyways. Something in his gut told him he should. 

_Lance McClain._

_Thank you for opening this email. We know the GAC is hiding something heinous and we would like your assistance in proving it. This information will not be made public, we fear it may be too dangerous. The specimen they are holding in laboratory B12 is one we have reason to believe is not only sentient, but very much alive and capable of surviving in our environment. If this is the case we believe it is in this beings best interest to be freed from captivity. No one should be forced into experimentation._

_Do not respond to this email. We have attached a unique virus programmed to delete this file permanently from your email providers server, so no history of it will exist once you exit this email._

_If you are interested in assisting our cause, work until three am, on Monday night. Someone you already know will meet you there. They will tell you more about what we know and what we hope to accomplish._

_-Voltron Group-_

Lance did not know what to think as he read this, but sure enough as he exited the email it deleted itself from his inbox. Shit. So were his fears correct then? The Voltron group was right, it was absolutely wrong to keep Extrarius if he was alive, sentient, and able to survive, and Lance knew that too. Lance was already doubting so much, but he did not know if he could do this.

The GAC researched so much, and did a lot of good for the world, and surely his work could too, it was all he ever wanted. But at what cost could he make that dream a reality? Lance wanted more than anything to help people, but could he really sacrifice his morality over that? Did Extrarius not deserve to go home too? For all Lance knew, Extrarius had a family who missed him, who thought him dead. But if they thought he was dead, and Extrarius never woke up, was it still technically wrong to keep him if he could save millions of lives? 

For all he knew, Extrarius was here for a reason too, and not by mistake. If he was, keeping him meant Extrarius might never fulfill that purpose. But most importantly, if Voltron was right, and Lance helped the GAC cover all this up, what did that make him in the end? All the good he could ever do, would that be undone by keeping Extrarius?

_But what if they are wrong?_ Lance thought. What if Extrarius's hair and cells did not go past forty three degrees, but Extrarius himself did when out for too long? What if he really  _did_ burst into flames and die? Was it right to take the risk and possibly kill Extrarius? What was right? What was the right thing for Lance to do? 

He did not know, and he was not sure he ever could know either, but Lance knew he had to make a decision soon. He had three days, to make his decision. Monday. Someone he already knew would meet him and explain more, so did that mean Voltron already had members inside the GAC? Inside his very laboratory? It seemed to be the case. If it was so serious that they had infiltrated already, possibly years ago, then maybe it really was right to trust them? But then again, they were blamed for a lot of bad things in the world too, supposedly. Was there really a right decision though? 

Lance finished his drink in one go now, closing his laptop and setting it aside, all thought of killing virtual zombies gone now. Why did the weekend have to begin with him having an existential crisis about morality and right and wrong? Why did Voltron even want  _him_ if they already had people in the company and the laboratory? What could Lance possibly offer them that no one else could? 

 


	6. The Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance meets with a liaison to Voltron, and hears what they want from him. Can he really sacrifice his lifes work for them though? Or has he been lead astray by the GAC?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It rained today and was cold after several months of being very hot. Anyways, I hope you all like this chapter, we finally see some members of Voltron! 
> 
> Please leave a comment if you like it (it's how I know people are actually reading this story!) I will be updating again soon for this one, I've got the writing bug for it at the moment! If you like this work, please consider donating to my Ko-Fi which is linked on my tumblr (url is seliphra), and please check my commissions which are also accessible there!

Three am on Monday night. Technically it was Tuesday morning, but that did not matter, it was supposed to be this night. Lance sighed softly and looked at the clock from where he sat now. The red numbers glared at him, a bright and angry 02:49 staring back at him. The lab was emptied hours ago now, and Lance was not really working any more himself by this point, just sitting beside the tank instead. He wanted to just go home and sleep more than anything, but he would miss the contract from the Voltron group and he had no way to tell them that three in the morning was a terrible time to arrange for a rendezvous.

“I don't suppose _you_ know what they want?” Lance asked Extrarius, his voice sounding foreign and too loud in so quiet a space. He still was not sure what to think of all of this, but he needed to know what Voltron wanted from him before he could make up his mind on helping them or not. They might not like that, whomever his contact was meant to be. 

“Probably not. You probably can't understand anything we have to say anyways, even if you can hear us in there. Can you hear us in there?” Lance asked, looking at the brain waves. Nope. No response. Extrarius reacted to pain only it seemed, but otherwise his waves read like a person in a coma, they were almost not there at all sometimes. At least, not since the tank was closed. The first few waves registered something like consciousness and slowly it faded back into the low-register of almost non-existent. 

“Ugh. Why did it have to be at three in the morning huh?” Lance pressed his forehead to the cool glass to stare at Extrarius' face. Extrarius made no movement, nothing at all to indicate anything at all, but then they were keeping him in fluid so cold it would kill a human. Lance loved how Extrarius looked though, peaceful, like he was asleep. Slightly distorted by the fluid and curve of the glass it was still obvious that he was stunningly beautiful, in every way. His hair floated around his head again, like a halo, reminding Lance again of images of the Madonna and baby Jesus. 

“Because we needed to be sure we were alone,” A familiar voice rang out across the laboratory and Lance nearly jumped out of his skin as he was snapped back to reality, whirling around in confusion. Of all the people he had thought might meet him here, he had not expected _this_. 

“Come. We will talk elsewhere,” Ulaz said calmly and Lance swallowed hard before following Ulaz to the elevator. But the camera's, they would record this right? But then again, Ulaz worked in security, and if there were others who were working with him, it was safe to assume they had taken care of it already. 

“So uh-” Lance tried to start as soon as they were in the elevator, only to be cut off before he could get anything out. 

“Hush. Not here. We will go somewhere else, but this building is not safe to speak in.” Ulaz said calmly. Lance felt his cheeks burn with the reminder, but he nodded slowly. No, it probably was not safe to talk inside the building with so many security camera's rolling was it? Lance kept his mouth shut when the elevator dinged on the main floor, and followed him silently out of the building, though he was reluctant to get in Ulaz's car. 

“Follow me at a one car distance.” Ulaz said calmly though when they reached his vehicle, a black sedan. Lance did not know what to make of all of this. Was it okay for Ulaz to be leaving work like this? Then again, Ulaz's shift was probably over already. Lance made his way to his own car, one of the few left in the lot at this time of night and drove after Ulaz, though he did as he was told. One car between them -when there were enough cars to have one between them anyways. It was extremely late at night after all. 

Eventually they pulled in at an old, abandoned looking warehouse and Ulaz parked, stepping out and waiting for Lance. Lance took a deep breath as he left his car and followed Ulaz. He was still tired, yes, but the adrenaline was kicking in now too, with all of this happening. 

“Okay, what is this-” Lance started, only to be cut off again by Ulaz. 

“Not yet. Inside, come on,” He said. Lance had seen enough scary movies to know that only white people went inside a dark empty warehouse with someone who was acting strangely, and that they died unless they were the designated survivor of the film. All the same he followed Ulaz inside, but it was not quite as empty as it seemed from outside. One area there was some very high tech computers, and a few couches. Only two others were there, one Lance recognized and one he did not. 

“Lance McClain. It is good to meet you again. I hope Ulaz did not frighten you too badly with all of this. I'm afraid he takes the secrecy quite seriously though,” Thace said calmly, politely smiling at him.   
  
“Y-yeah. Aren't you a board member?” Lance asked weakly, sitting down. The other person there was stunningly beautiful, the type Lance would flirt with under normal circumstances, but right now he did not dare. 

“Yes. I am. I also work for Voltron primarily. All the members of Voltron do. We have spies in many corporations, and quite a number inside of the GAC. But so far, no actual researchers on any of the projects. We were hoping you would be the first. This is Allura, she is the leader of Voltron, and she wanted to meet you personally,” Thace said, motioning to the beautiful woman. 

“I-I see. Uh. Lance. Nice to meet you. Look, I don't really know what this is about, I'm just-”

“Working on the Arch Project. Zarkon claims it is a research project in to diseases and curatives, but we have reason to believe there are darker plans behind it. Not only that project either, a number of the projects are ethically questionable, at best. The Arch Project, we believe, is one of the least questionable projects he has. Ulaz has access to all the basement laboratories, and while your laboratory is the only one dealing with extraterrestrial life, there are others in disease research,” Allura said. Her voice was beautiful too. 

“I-I see. What is it you want me to do then, exactly?” Lance asked weakly. He was not sure he could really say no anymore to this, not when he had met their leader and knew the identities of two of Voltron's moles. Well, he could, but what if that was the wrong decision too?

“It's quite simple really. We want information. And in the future, we want to steal Extrarius from the labs,” Allura said. 

“No way, that's not possible! Look, I don't know what you think, but Extrarius can't survive in our atmosphere! He'd combust! Or at least overheat until brain death occurs if he's not mostly brain dead already,” Lance said. 

“Do you really believe that Lance, or is this what you are making yourself believe?” Thace asked gently. Lance paused with that, not sure what to make of the question. Making himself believe it? It was a possibility, he supposed, but what did he have to gain by _making_ himself believe something untrue?

“Your own research findings show that his cells did not combust when exposed to our atmosphere at room temperature. I have access to the security footage from your lab when you tested this. We believe this information to be inaccurate, though whether this was an error or intentional, we cannot be certain,” Ulaz said calmly. Ulaz seemed to be perpetually calm, and it stressed Lance out a little. 

“More importantly, the brain waves. Our hack could not get in to what we really needed, you were quite correct. But we were never after that. What we wanted was you, Lance. We already have a load of information on the Arch Project, and the Komar and Beast projects as well. Those are the three that worry us the most. We know more about the Arch Project than anything else right now, and we want to focus there. Komar and Beast are both very new projects, but the Arch Project has been on going for a full century and between different government facilities and a private one.” Allura said calmly. 

“Y-yeah. Okay, so um, what did you want to know?” Lance asked weakly. He did not know how much help he could really be, but he would do his damnedest anyways. 

“I want to know the truth Lance. In your professional opinion, do you believe that Extrarius can regain consciousness and survive our atmosphere safely?” Allura asked. 

Lance stared at his feet, thinking hard now, compiling all the information he had inside his head now, forcing himself to think about it. The cells and hair survived and held steady at forty-three degrees when he had them at room temperature, which suggested that Extrarius would not combust if his whole body were exposed. His brain waves were almost conscious level when they had first connected the nodes to his head, and they registered pain at the very least, indicating Extrarius could feel things, even in liquid so cold it should kill him. 

There were the xrays of Extrarius' first days on earth too, showing numerous broken bones from his crash to the planetary surface, his body so broken he should have needed ambulatory care and even then likely would have died. But instead, the following xray less than forty eight hours later showed him fully healed and well. As though no crash had ever occurred, and his body had healed itself rapidly in the liquid nitrogen, at the time it was the only thing they could thing to keep him in. 

And then there were the nightmares. They were less real now, but the one that frightened him the most, the one right before the hack into the systems, and the week preceding them. And the event that caused them too. Extrarius had opened his eyes. Lance was sure of that, even if he had no data to prove it at all. Now that Lance really thought about it, the first week and the final dream, the one he felt anxiety and urgency in, it was Extrarius. Extrarius was alive in that pod, and some part of him had woken up, at least long enough to make contact with Lance, how Lance did not know. As a scientist he had always trusted the data though. The data was right, it was factual. But his gut told him Extrarius was trying to communicate to him in that different dream, the one before the hack happened. 

“In my professional opinion, after my time studying Extrarius I fully believe that he is alive and can survive in our atmosphere safely,” Lance said, though his voice shook a little as he said it. Oh, what had he done?! If he was right, then it meant he had done so much to a person who could not fight back or consent to any of it. The realization made him feel sick to his stomach, and he could not bring himself to look any of them in the face. This was what he gained by believing something untrue. He could keep doing his job if he believed, genuinely believed, that Extrarius was not really alive or sentient in there.

“Then we have no choice. We will have to act. I believe we can sabotage the tank, force it to open late at night, but we will need to act very quickly to get Extrarius out of the building unseen. I want you to work with him too when he does wake up, you know more than any of us do already about him and his needs.” 

“We don't think he has any needs,” Lance mumbled, managing to look up now, and all three looked a tad surprised by that. “We never recorded it, but it was obvious. He doesn't need food or water, or oxygen or gasses or warm temperatures. If he has needs, I don't know what they are. But um, I'll do my best. How do you plan to uh, spring him though? I mean the lab's are all alarmed to signal Zarkon himself if something happens in there.”

“That is why I am in the security department. Our tech genius has been assisting us with a virus to reprogram many aspects of the systems in the laboratories, it was she who allowed me to retrieve you from the laboratory without notice. My card is not shown in the system logs now, but your card does show you leaving the building. I am sure she will need your help as well, with getting around laboratory systems, especially where the tank is concerned. Her inability to find it caused us setbacks when she accessed the laboratory systems. We have yet to go after the other projects, she said it herself that it would be unwise to go after so much at once. Take this. If you plug it in to the tank and other computers it will allow her to see inside them while this is plugged in. It will not alert anyone, and it is small enough that it should go unnoticed,” Ulaz said, handing Lance three small devices. They did not look like they could _be_ plugged in. 

“How do I uh?” He flipped one over in his hand, looking closely at them. Man, Hunk and Pidge would love these things. He could picture Katie fiddling with them and taking them apart to figure out how they worked, then probably redesigning it better.

“Place it on the control panel, at the back. It looks like a screw when attached, so it should blend in easily enough. It does not look like much, but our lead tech knows more about this than anyone we have ever seen. She has used these before too, it will work, and no one will know about it. Once it is on, she can access what they are attached to at any time she chooses.” Ulaz told him. Lance nodded weakly and sighed. 

“Okay. Okay, I um, I'm going to go home now then. I'll put this on the panel and other places once I'm there tomorrow,” Lance said, standing up finally. Extrarius was probably sentient, and Lance had done something horrific to him. But Lance could make it right, he could help Voltron get Extrarius out, and make things right. He hoped. 

When Lance finally did make it home, he showered first, spending much longer in the running water than he usually did. When he finally did make his way in to bed he was asleep almost instantly, and for the first time since they had opened the tank, Lance did not dream about Extrarius' tank. 

 


	7. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance plants the bugs needed to get more information and to rig the alarm systems, and meets Voltron's Mysterious pro-hacker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote a lot today and I feel good! Please leave a comment if you liked it, comments motivate me more than you know, and please consider donating to my Ko-Fi if you're enjoying this story so far and check out my commissions information, both on my tumblr which is seliphra!

It was simple really. All Lance had to do was plant the small devices all around the lab, and the hacker at Voltron would be able to access the sealed databases that were not connected to anything. It was so easy, and yet Lance found it painfully difficult to do just that. He knew now that it was certainly not okay to keep Extrarius locked inside a container in a deep stasis, but he was not sure if everyone around him was actually cruel, or, if like him, they simply had not come to the realization that Extrarius could not only survive, but should be allowed the opportunity to wake up.

Granted, he may not be able to speak any human language, but they could still learn more from him being awake, surely. Showing Extrarius star charts might tell them where he was from, maybe they could teach him an earth language or learn his own? And Lance could inspect what the hell was up with Extrarius' back too, the strange burn pattern that shifted and lifted off when he had touched it.

Place the little node. Just place it. Land had it on his finger tip, and he could pretend to be reading Extrarius' brain waves -boring as they were currently- to get it done. Oh, why did Lance agree to do this? Maybe he could just talk to Zarkon or Haggar?

“McClain! What are you doing?” Speaking of Haggar, she spoke and snapped Lance out of his strange head space which involved staring into nothingness, and startled the living daylights out of him.

“Ma'am! Nothing! I mean I'm just-I-I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, so I'm just a little out of it I guess?” It did not help that Lance was already easily distracted, but with so much in his mind, it seemed he was staring into nothingness now, more easily than he usually did.

“Right. Well go get a coffee then and wake yourself up.” She said, shaking her head as she turned and walked away to go check on the others and make sure no one was doing anything they should not be doing. Lance managed a weak smile as he finally pressed his fingers down, planting the very tiny device on the back of the read-out computer before doing exactly that.

Coffee in hand, the next few computers he had to get the devices on to were pretty easy. There were only a couple of them, thankfully, and everything else was apparently accessible through other means. From what he understood, Voltron would not announce it's presence this time, they wanted the GAC to believe that they were safe now.

All the same, Lance was truly terrified of the hack being discovered by someone. If it was traced to him somehow, he lost the job he had worked so hard to get, and possibly faced jail time. And then he would never be able to learn about Extrarius, who had captured his interest more than anything else could have ever done.

Lance was supposed to meet too with Allura later on. He hoped to meet this hacker, but he doubted it would happen. If Lance knew too many people inside Voltron, it put them at risk too, and it showed in that they had not given Allura's last name. He had a description though, and that alone meant they really wanted Lance to cooperate, and trusted him not to reveal too much. Lance was not sure why they thought he was safe.

* * *

 

The drive to the warehouse was long and a bit tedious. Lance had been told to drive in as complicated and convoluted a route as he could, to ensure no one was following him there, and he had to hide his car a little ways away too, to avoid anyone noticing it and realizing where he was, or drawing attention.

Lance walked in another convoluted way to the warehouse -again, to be sure no one followed him- and then headed inside. The monitors he had seen before were still there, though there was a tuft of brown hair visible above them, working hard on something apparently. The other monitors blocked their face, but he could see Allura watching carefully with a very tall man that Lance did not recognize at all. The very tall man gently nudged Allura and pointed to Lance, which drew her attention so that she finally noticed him.

“Lance, there you are. Good of you to join us. We're looking through the systems now, there's a lot to go through though it would seem. You've done a great service for us,” Allura said kindly.

“Uh. Yeah. I hope I um... how do we know that Zarkon's actually _bad_ though? I mean it's possible he isn't right? Maybe they just didn't connect it, maybe they just-”

“Lance, I understand that you're still having a dilemma about this, but if you'd seen into the other labs, you would know he's a monster,” a very familiar voice said from behind the monitors. Lance felt his jaw drop at that before he marched over, scowling slightly.

“Katie Holt, how dare you not tell me you were working for a famous organization!” Lance said as he stormed over, arms crossing when he was finally able to look around the monitors at one of his oldest and dearest friends.

“Well _you_ lied to me about aliens, so consider us even,” Katie pointed out with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

“Damn. Okay, well you got me there,” Lance agreed, pouting, but what she had said, that concerned him deeply. “So um. My boss _is_ a bad person then?” He asked softly, almost pained by that knowledge.

“Yeah. Probably. I-I'm sorry Lance, I know this job meant a lot to you. But I recommended you here, so you can try and undo what he's done! You can help make him known for what he really is!” Katie said with an apologetic expression. Maybe so, but Lance was still on his internal crisis mode.

“Yeah. Sure. Okay. I um, does Hunk know about all this too?” Lance asked weakly. If his best friend was in on this too, Lance really would fall apart.

“Nah. I don't think he would believe me anyways but I don't want to involve him either if it can be avoided. Hunk is a good dude, I don't think I could quite do this to him. You I-I would have preferred the same, but you were in a position we had been trying to get someone in for _years_ Lance, there was no choice!” Katie said.

“Yeah. N-no, I get it, you needed someone you could trust to do the right thing, and you knew me. You knew I would choose to help in the end,” Lance sighed softly and looked over Katie's shoulder.

“Yeah. Speaking of which, I don't understand a lot of what I'm looking at here, where the tank itself is concerned. What are these numbers?” She asked, pointing to three of her monitors. Some of it should be obvious enough to understand, but Katie was not trained in this field and other things she would not understand.

“Okay, well this one is covering his brain waves, and that one is his pulse and blood pressure. Their all way below normal human readings except the brain activity. Right now he reads like someone in a coma. Not brain dead, but not really all that active either. These numbers are resting rates, and that is his temperature. The liquid we're keeping him in is at -200 degree's centigrade, but his internal temperature seems to remain constant at twenty degree's. He also doesn't seem to cause the Leidenfrost effect, but we're not sure why. Here is his temperature read out, and the temperature inside the tank, if those change a whole lot of alarms will go off. And right there? That's how you open it up. It _also_ set's alarms off, including one right to Zarkon's phone. Now those computers are just the registry of who has removed blood and when, and what they were doing with it. Someone does keep stealing blood once a month at midnight though. No log gets made, but it's definitely happening,” Lance said.

“Creepy. You got vampires there too?” Katie asked with a smirk, and Lance chuckled lightly.

“Who knows? We got aliens right? Anything is possible. Anyways, you've seen into more labs then I have, so you tell me,” Lance said.

“Not that I can find, but I will keep you updated. Okay, so from what I'm reading, you guys know... not a lot. Just basically he ain't human and you can't give him a more creative name then 'Extrarius'?” Katie asked.

“Basically. I mean, apparently he heals mega fast and is immune to human diseases, doesn't have cells or blood in the way we recognize them, and apparently does not need oxygen to breathe or water or food to sustain himself. Maybe he's absorbing light from the sun? Well, in the labs he's absorbing light from the lights, but you know what I mean,” Lance said.

“Maybe. We'll find out when we get him out of there, but it will take me a week to get the coding right so we can get him out with no one knowing about it until morning,” Katie said.

“Are you sure you can have it done in a week?” Allura asked, and Lance jumped. He had been so focused on Katie that he had entirely forgotten Allura was in the room with them, watching the same screens he was explaining to Katie.

“Yeah, I mean, give or take anyways. I'd test run it a couple of times on a different system too, just to be _really_ sure, but if anyone can get in to the GAC security systems and override them? It's me~” Katie said, smirking as she got to work now on her coding. Lance knew that was no boast either. She could get in to anything it seemed.

“Good. I look forward to your success then,” the tall man finally spoke, and his voice reminded Lance of a stern father, and gave him the urge to refer to this man as 'sir'. “More importantly though, we must decide now where Extrarius will go. We cannot keep him here once he is awake, but it would be very unwise to keep him in any of our actual addresses.”

“You are quite correct. I would like Lance to stay with him, especially at first, Lance knows more about any of us already, with any luck he can care for Extrarius the best of all of us. But I agree, it would be very unwise to have you take him to your home Lance, that would end with you both being caught very quickly, and would not do us any good. I'm going to set you up in a safe house of sorts, and I want you to get things you think you will need there in the next day or so. No technology though. If Katie can get into the safe house, I like to assume others could as well, so you will have to leave your phone and other devices in your real place of residence,” Allura said and Lance nodded.

“Right. Got it. No technology, no fun until we know what else to do. This is... really going to happen huh? This is really, actually happening...” Lance felt weak, as though he were about to feint.

“Don't worry man. We'll be in and out plenty too, so it won't be so bad. And anyways, I can probably work out a few things you can have fun on,” Katie promised him.

“A safe house with Lance then. It is settled. I hope you will serve us well, Lance.” The tall man said, before he left to go who knew where.

“Don't mind Antok. He's a little weird,” Katie said when the tall man -apparently named Antok- left. Lance certainly got that impression from him, at any rate.

“Yeah. Okay. So what else do you need me for then?” Lance asked. He would do what he could to help, but he needed to eat something eventually and maybe actually kill zombies tonight. That would be a nice stress relief.

“Oh! Right. These things here, what are these?” Katie asked, and Lance was happy to explain every number, entry, and report on Extrarius they had. There was a lot they would not be able to get either way though, much still had not been put on any databases, internal or not.

Lance left for home not long after that though, having explained everything he could that Katie guessed may be of importance. Lance was more than a little nervous after this meeting though. The plans were really falling in to place. They were really going to _steal_ Extrarius and Lance was going to take care of him while he was fully conscious, assuming Extrarius really did survive the waking up process. But then, could it really be called stealing if Extrarius really was a person? Or were they simply liberating him?

Lance did not want to spend another minute thinking about it as he booted up his game and poured himself a strong drink to try and forget his day. Maybe he would wind down with a horrible movie all on his own. Not one on the bad-movie watch list with his friends, those ones they had to rail on together, but he could rewatch some of the older, horrible movies, or go to one of his favourites. _Tremors_ was always good for this kind of mind-numbing need.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tremor's movies are my favourite, I own four of them on DVD and I need to find the fifth one.


	8. Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance, working with Voltron, finally steals Extrarius from the GAC's secret basement lab, but will Extrarius really be alright in Earth's atmosphere? More importantly, if he wakes up, will they ever be able to communicate?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please comment if you do, comments are how I know people are reading this and keep me motivated to write more! (Again, even keysmashing is perfectly acceptable!) 
> 
> September was a very hard month for me hours wise, and I would very much appreciate if anyone has a few extra bucks and wants to toss them at my Ko-Fi, or even commission something small from me! (I can do a lot! Not just Voltron either!), both my Ko-Fi and my Commissions are on my tumblr @seliphra!

Lance should be more nervous than he was. All that he felt was a dead calm though, up until he left, despite the plan to steal a top secret specimen out of one of the most secure laboratory facilities in the world. This was doomed to fail, surely, but Lance could not bring himself to be panicked about it just yet. He went home at seven along with several other scientists he worked with so as to be seen leaving the lab.

The camera's would be on the loop when he returned, and Ulaz would bring him down so Lance would not be using his key card to get to the basement. Lance and Ulaz would get Extrarius into Lance's car, and Lance would take him to the safe house location and hopefully not be killed by an alien. Katie would take the camera's off the loop one at a time when the real feed -which she would watch- showed what the looped footage was showing.

Lance spent the next several hours at home, very calmly watching some horror movie on Netflix until one thirty in the morning. It was presumably a suspense/thriller movie at any rate, but Lance was not terribly interested in it, as it was not very good. Nicholas Cage was bad at suspense and thriller, especially since it was just about the Rapture instead of what Lance had assumed, which had been a disaster of some kind.

When Katie texted him at one thirty asking him to come over for 'a crisis of emotion' he left and headed for the lab. That was the code, it was not suspicious for two friends to text each other, and she was his alibi for this theft. Lance texted back of course that he was on his way, and asked what was wrong. Katie sent him the expected text about missing her family -who were fine, just miles away thanks to being in university. Believable enough for when the investigation happened.

Lance parked where he was supposed to, and made his way inside, where Ulaz was waiting to go on his rounds. The other camera's were all working fine, so it should not draw any attention to this floor, elevator one, and the lab being on a loop. Ulaz had been sure to leave something important at his desk, so he had a reason to come back to the main floor after they were done with stealing Extrarius.  
  
Katie was in all the buildings systems right now, so she brought up the correct elevator for them, the only one of the elevators on a loop, and Ulaz brought them both down to the laboratory. Lance played with his shirt in nervousness on the way down, uncharacteristically silent. Ulaz went first out into the laboratory, before waving Lance over, who made his way to the tank. Neither spoke, and Lance wondered if it was just in Ulaz's nature to not speak when it was not necessary.

Ulaz nodded, and watched the doors while Lance punched in the code to open the tank. Not his own, of course, but Zarkon's own, which would keep suspicion off them. Zarkon could not just fire the person who had a code used on them this way either, no one got hurt. Lance hoped.

The tank did not blare alarms at opening, no warning lights went, but the liquid poured out and the tank opened up once Extrarius was at the bottom of the tank, cradled by the shape of the cylinder. Lance still needed the protective gear to lift him out, Extrarius radiated cold, but the liquid on him was rapidly evaporating with the tank open again, and out he came.

Lance felt his heart pounding now, as he lifted Extrarius in his arms and stepped down out of the tank as Ulaz came over to help him now. Holy shit what was he doing? Why was he doing this? What if he was wrong and Extrarius was no more intelligent then an amoeba?

Lance swallowed his doubts and glanced at the clothing and knife, before wrapping Extrarius in a towel, then a sheet that he had brought with him. Then, with Ulaz's help, they were on the elevator up again, hoisting Extrarius between them. Main floor, and to the car, Ulaz moving silently ahead and checking first to ensure the coast was clear, and somehow they made it out with no one seeing them. Lance thanked whatever powers that were for that. God, the universe, he would even take the Devil right now if it meant not getting caught doing this.

Lance was a little worried about putting a potentially flammable alien into the trunk of his car, but there were few options. If he was pulled over by the police for any reason -and being brown and Cuban it was always a possibility- they might question what looked like a wrapped dead body, especially if they pulled the sheets off and found a really naked pale guy. Ulaz went back inside as Lance got in and drove away, managing to maintain a reasonable speed as he made his way out.

Katie was adjusting the time that the tank was opened too, by a half hour in the systems, so that Ulaz would be safely on a floor with working camera's when the log showed Zarkon's code being used to open the tank. Lance was still terrified. They all had an alibi, they should all be safe. But Lance was still afraid, only now that the deed was done.

He pulled in to the parking stall and got out, feeling some relief when he saw Allura come out of the stair well to help him. The trunk was popped open, and into the elevator they went. Extrarius felt warm now, under the towels and sheets, but he was still not standing or moving, and he did not feel feverish yet. Lance was still scared Extrarius would burst into flames.

“It went well, I imagine?” Allura asked gently, as they reached the fifth floor and made their way quietly through the hallway.

“Yeah. I guess. We got him anyways, right? I guess we'll know for sure in a few days time, right? God, I better not go to jail over this!” Lance whined as they got into the apartment and dragged Extrarius to the couch. Extrarius' back felt strange, like there were bones in different area's, and Lance thought back to the odd burn pattern that could shift and lift off when touched. 

“You will not, I will make absolutely sure of it,” Allura said kindly, helping Lance get the sheets off. “He's better looking then I had thought he would be. And more human looking too,” Allura said softly when she saw Extrarius' face.

“Yeah. Me too. He's scary hot, right?” Lance grinned a little as he sat down and Allura raised an eyebrow. No more staring at Extrarius while he was naked in a tank though for Lance. Much as he would like to inspect Extrarius body too, now was probably not the time at all. Oh, he was so tired too, this really would be a bad plan. Hopefully Extrarius would not mind Lance giving him a physical when he woke up, assuming they were able to communicate at all.

“I suppose that is _one_ way to put it,” She agreed. Allura seemed more amused by what Lance said than actually thinking it herself, but Lance did not question her on that either. It did not matter, ultimately. 

“You can head out, I'll watch him for the rest of tonight. I'll text you or someone if he wakes up,” Lance offered, but Allura sat down stubbornly, and Lance was secretly glad she seemed to want to stay at least a while longer.

“Not a chance. I will be right here, and at any rate, you are exhausted. You go sleep some, and I will watch him. Besides, I suspect you will be called in the next hour or so for work related issues?” Allura pointed out. They would need others here if Extrarius did not wake up soon. Lance would not bother sleeping just yet.  


 

* * *

 

 

Allura was right. Lance was called a mere hour and a half later by Ulaz, telling him to come in. There was an incident in the labs and everyone was to return immediately. Lance went back in nervously, and when he arrived the others had all amassed. Lance was one of the few wearing actual clothing, but it was almost four in the morning, and so it was more unusual that he was not in pyjamas.   
  
Zarkon was there too, and he seemed to radiate fury right now. He was staring silently at the tank, and his expression was neutral, but Lance could feel it all the same. Everyone was well back of him, including Haggar, who also actually had clothing on. 

“We will be closing the laboratory for a few days. We still have some of the items, the knife and the clothing were not stolen, nor were any of the files, but we will need to question everyone who works in this lab and all of the security,” Thace said. He was in pyjamas. He had known this was happening, but he was not told the night it would occur either, to keep his reactions realistic. He knew to ensure he had a working alibi at least. 

“Everyone is to go home. Thace, Ulaz, Haggar, I want you three to remain here for the time being.” Zarkon's tone seemed calm, but the rage was there, just beneath the surface and it sent such a chill through Lance. He turned to look at them all, frowning softly. 

“McClain, DeMarcos, Smythe, and Dallas, remain behind as well please.” Lance felt his blood run cold as the others filed back to the elevators. All four of them however, Lance noticed, were wearing clothing and Lance felt a little more relieved by that. 

“You four, explain why you are currently dressed.” He said calmly. Normally an inappropriate question, but Lance knew all of them would answer it. 

“I always dress before leaving the house sir, I-I was dressed last time too!” Dallas said, looking like she might die of terror right there. 

“I was uh, kinda with a girl, sir, we went to her place, so I uh, had nothing else to put back on,” Smythe said next, clearing his throat in embarrassment. 

“I was with a friend. She was having a bit of a uh, crisis with missing her family, so I went to her place I was still there when you called,” Lance said. 

“I slept in my clothing,” DeMarcos said, looking sheepish. Zarkon had no reason to keep any of them, they all had an excuse for being fully dressed after an emergency immediate call after all. 

“Best to let them go,” Haggar said. Lance should have known she would not be a suspect, he had a sneaking suspicion that her and Zarkon were not just a scientist and her employer, but he did not dare pry when both of them were terrifying. 

“Yes. Ulaz, escort them out. I will know who was responsible for this. And they will pay. Dearly.” The thought of what Zarkon could do to him was more terrifying then anything else. He strongly suspected it would not go to any court of law too, but what happened to him might. 

“Yes sir. May I suggest that one of the board be in charge of the investigation sir? All of the security staff, myself included must be seen as suspect as well sir. I would advise we all be prevented from accessing this lab until we know with certainty who it was,” Ulaz said calmly. 

“I agree. Escort them out, and the investigation will begin in the morning,” Zarkon said. Ulaz nodded and ushered the four remaining scientists -not including Haggar- over to the elevator and out to their cars.   
  
Lance returned to the safe house for the time being, hoping Extrarius had not woken yet. He did not want to miss something like that. When he returned, Allura was still there, and Extrarius still lay on the couch. 

“Any movement?” He asked as he went to Extrarius' side, placing a hand on the mans forehead. Wow, Extrarius was hot. Above human temperature, but not nearly hot enough to burn him or the like. 

“Nothing yet, no,” Allura said, yawning. She looked exhausted too, and Lance suspected she had not gotten any sleep yet either. 

“He's really warm. Do you have a thermometer? I want to take his temperature,” Lance said, and Allura nodded, going to the bathroom and finding one. 

“Here we are,” She said, passing Lance the thermometer, and he carefully got it into Extrarius' mouth. It beeped out when it was done, and he pulled it out and looked at it, with a soft frown. Forty four degrees. Right where the other samples had held steady. Extrarius was brain meltingly hot if he were like a human, but certainly not near spontanious combustion. 

 

* * *

 

 

For a full twelve hours there was no change in Extrarius. His temperature held steady, and he did not move. Allura went home at some point, and Lance slept, but Extrarius remained still as ever on the couch, until six in the evening. It was then that there was a flicker of movement from his head that drew Lance's attention back to him, and he stared in worry as Extrarius' eyes flickered and moved, before finally opening, blinking rapidly and looking around in a state of confusion. 

Violet, just like Lance had dreamed, just like he thought they had been in the breif moment as they closed the tank again the last time it had been opened. Why it took so long this time Lance did not know, but Extrarius was moving for the first time in a century, and Lance was too afraid to say anything, holding still and staring at him instead. 

Extrarius saw Lance too, but did not seem too concerned about Lance either, looking around and sitting up slowly. He opened his mouth, and spoke, but Lance could not understand the words, and had no idea what language was even being used.It felt very oddly familiar though, like something deep in his subconscious knew it.  


“I uh. Sorry, I don't speak that. Whatever it is,” Lance said. Extrarius stared hard at Lance, and Lance felt his breath catch. Extrarius' eyes shifted in colour, red, blue, silver, gold, violet, green. It was impossible, and so beautiful that they could do that, but they settled again on violet, but bluer this time, somehow.  


“Hey, are you okay? What's your name? Where are you from?” Lance asked, wanting answers. Ah, right, different languages. Extrarius could not answer him, so when he did, and in perfect English, Lance was not sure what to make of it. 

“I don't remember. I don't remember anything at all.” 

 


	9. Keith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Extrarius finally awake and speaking, it's time to run some initial examinations on him, and help him choose a name. The examinations might just give them more questions though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do want to apologize for how long it took to publish this. I've been having an incredible string of really bad luck when it comes to writing, that appears to finally be over (I hope). I hope that you all enjoy this chapter that you've all been waiting so long and so patiently for!
> 
> Please remember to comment when you finish the chapter, as that is how I measure how many people are reading this! If only 5 people comment, my assumption is only 5 people read it! Please also consider buying me a coffee or comissioning me to support this and other stories, as I could really use some help this month! These links are available on my tumblr 'seliphra'!

Extrarius could speak in English. Lance was so flabbergasted that he spoke at all, let alone a language that Lance could understand which Extrarius had heard only once in his life. Lance was so shocked, in fact, that what Extrarius said did not fully register with him just yet.

“Y-you speak English?” Lance asked, slowly, his eyes wide with amazement and locked on Extrarius, who stared right back at Lance. Extrarius' gaze felt strange to Lance. More intense, more knowing somehow than what any human could give, and he sensed something powerful in the man before him.

“Yes. Is that what it's called?” Extrarius replied simply enough. Lance wondered just how Extrarius could have learned it though. Perhaps he had been more conscious inside the tank than anyone had realized? More than the scans had indicated? It was certainly a possibility that the scans did not show everything that Extrarius' brain was doing, and further possible that Extrarius' brain simply worked differently from a human one. Very likely in fact, as everything else about Extrarius worked differently than what humans did.

“Yeah, it's English. Uh, what did you say just before that though?” Lance asked. He already could not remember, failing to process the words entirely. Shock, or just his mind failing him momentarily, Lance could not be entirely sure. Most likely it was both.

“You asked me my name and where I am from. I don't remember these things. Or anything,” He said, looking around a little more.  
  
“No memory,” Lance said, nodding and then writing it down so he could review this all later. Extrarius had no memories of his past, but considering his considerable fall and the century he spent frozen in liquid so cold it should kill have killed him where the fall did not, Lance supposed this was not so surprising.

“What is your name?” Extrarius asked now. Lance paused, watching him for a moment before he answered.

“My name is Lance. I'm a scientist. I uh, I would like to give you a full physical exam if I can? To make sure everything is working like it should,” Lance asked. He had the chance now to test so much more about Extrarius than he ever might have in the laboratory.

“Alright. Are there others like me here then?” Extrarius asked and Lance was not entirely sure how to answer, nor what prompted the question.

“That we know of? No. You are not like anything we've ever seen before,” Lance said. He would be honest with Extrarius about this much. He was not entirely sure though what he was allowed to tell Extrarius and what he was not. He probably should text Allura or someone else in Voltron to inform them that Extrarius was awake at all, and could _speak_ to them in a language they could understand.

“How will you know that I'm working like I should then?” Extrarius asked, looking almost smug for a moment there, and Lance frowned. Extrarius did raise a good point, but he was not sure where the attitude came from.

“I guess I won't. Can I do the physical anyways?” Lance asked. Extrarius looked amused by the answer Lance had given him, nodding his consent and letting the sheets fall down a little bit so that Lance could start his examination.

Lance started with checking Extrarius' eyes. He used a flashlight to measure dilation and how fast they did, a little surprised by how they reacted. His pupils expanded and shrank just as humans did, though so fast Lance could barely measure it. When Lance shone the light a while, it seemed to provide no irritation at all to Extrarius' eyes either. When he removed the light after that, the pupil had turned a bright orange colour.

“Did you know your eyes change colour?” Lance asked. This was both his own curiosity, and a test to see what things might be unaffected. Language was clearly still accessible, but this was fairly common in amnesiacs that were human too.

“Yes. Is that not normal?” Extrarius asked. Lance swallowed slightly as Extrarius watched him, one violet-blue and one orange eye locked on him.

“Not like yours do. Not for humans, anyways,” Lance said. Extrarius did not seem too confused by not being human, nor too surprised that Lance was. It was possible he simply did not know what a human was, but Lance suspected some information was still available to Extrarius.

Next Lance checked what he was wanting to look at the most, ever since the tank was closed again. Extrarius' back had a strange burn pattern on it still, and Lance distinctly remembered the scale-like pattern moving under his gloved fingers when they were getting ready to close the tank.

The pattern was as it had always been, and on a dry back did something different indeed. When Lance had Extrarius bend over, the ends came up, just slightly, and he touched them again, this time with a bare hand.  
  
“Do you feel these?” Lance asked, gently moving one, just at the edge, though by the way Extrarius' finders and toes moved, as though in effort to not squirm was answer enough. His expression more so, one of concentration and mild discomfort.

“Yeah, they tickle,” Extrarius said, his voice soft, and Lance was a little surprised to see the orange eye had returned to violet-blue once more.

“Interesting,” Lance murmured, gently tracing the pattern with his fingers, and carefully moving the pieces. They did not feel like skin, nor like scales either. He was not entirely sure what they were, though he was terribly curious, and were Extrarius still nothing more than a probably dead alien, he might do a biopsy. Perhaps he could do an ultrasound or an MRI on them at some point, though he doubted that very much.

The pattern extended down the whole of Extrarius' back, and looked almost folded in on itself. Lance had never seen anything like it, and he doubted now that they were a burn pattern at all, and perhaps something natural to Extrarius' species.

Lance ran through a more basic run down next. Reflexes and seeing inside Extrarius' mouth and ears. Ears looked mostly identical to human ones, but the mouth was interesting. Extrarius' teeth were perfect, snow white... and there were eight extra ones. He had no tonsils, no uvula, and there appeared to be no plaque build up anywhere inside his mouth at all.

Lance felt for bones and ribs next. The same number as a humans, on the x-ray they had shown the same, though from the back it felt wrong. As though Extrarius had extra bones there, and his shoulder blades were shaped very differently indeed from humans. This much Lance already knew though, the x-rays having captured it, though what interested him the most was that the two extra bones he felt at the surface of Extrarius' back began at the shoulder blade, and ran down and under the ribs, angled in towards the spine, though whether they actually connected at his spine was something Lance was unsure of. The x-rays had been hard to read when he had looked at them after all.

The abdomen was next, and Lance noted a remarkable amount of muscle mass. Extrarius was very strong, despite his thinner frame. He even had back muscles Lance had never seen, though this was likely something to do with the additional bones he had. Extrarius had a similar, yet different skeletal structure to humans and Lance did wonder a lot about things beyond this.

Other than the notable differences though, Lance could find nothing at all wrong or especially unusual about Extrarius. He did finally text Allura to alert her that Extrarius was awake, though the text was one only she would read as such. The next stage of tests would need to involve checking the things they could not feel and look at. Lance was hopeful that Extrarius being awake would lead to even more discovery about him, though part of him felt great shame too.

Lance had really been prepared to never question Extrarius' sentience, nor his ability to regain consciousness and survive the atmosphere, and yet here Extrarius was. Wide awake, looking around the safe house in curiosity.

“What is my name anyways?” Extrarius asked, as they waited on Allura to arrive along with Katie Holt. Lance glanced up at his notes, glad for the distraction from his own thoughts in many ways.

“Oh. Well, we don't know actually. We _have_ been calling you Extrarius, but I guess that name isn't really suitable. Now that you're awake I guess you could pick a different one too, right?”

“I guess so, but I don't know a lot of names,” Extrarius said simply. And he apparently did not remember his own either.

“I guess not. We could wait for Allura and Katie to get here, and they could help with some names too?” Lance offered. Extrarius did not look terribly convinced that this was the right call, but he nodded anyways.

“I think I dreamed,” He said next, his voice quiet, looking a bit distant as he spoke. This piqued Lance's interest immediately and he watched Extrarius intently, waiting for a further explanation. “I dreamed I had somewhere very important to be. Something important to do. And I dreamed I was terribly cold. And I dreamed... someone who looked like you. In a white room.” Extrarius said. He closed his eyes as he spoke, and when he opened them again they had turned a silvery colour. It seemed as though Extrarius' eyes could not decide which colour they were meant to be either, and could not simply settle on a single one, which was a touch confusing to Lance. There did not appear to be a rhyme or a reason to the colour changes yet.

“I-I see. That sounds like a strange dream indeed,” Lance said, though he knew at least part of the dream were not a dream. But how on earth could Extrarius remember being inside the tank, especially when he could recall nothing else of himself?

“I suppose it does, yes,” Extrarius said. Lance felt relieved when the knock came on the door, and jumped up to answer it, glad for the interruption to his own guilt-ridden spiral that Allura and Katie would provide him with.

“Lance! Is he really awake? Is it-oh goodness me, it is true,” Allura said as she stepped inside the apartment, setting eyes on Extrarius, who still sat upright on the couch, naked as he had been in the tank still, the sheets draped loosely around his waist.

“What does Extrarius mean?” Extrarius asked suddenly, though Katie and Allura looked more surprised than anything still. He was speaking, after all, and apparently more than capable of communication, despite is probably extraterrestrial origins.

“It's from a language called Latin, it means-” Lance was about to explain, but Extrarius' eyes changed back to the violet-blue, as he spoke the meaning.

“Foreign or external. Loquerisne Latine?” Extrarius asked, though he frowned, apparently disappointed by the obvious confusion of everyone else in the room. “I guess not, huh?”

“Uh, you are right about the definition, what did you ask us though?” Katie asked slowly. All of them were a little bit nervous about this, since no one knew anything about Extrarius.

“If you spoke Latin,” Extrarius said simply. Lance supposed the question did make sense for him to have asked. They used Latin to refer to him after all, and his possessions.

“No. ¿Pero puedes hablar español? ¿Cuántos idiomas puedes hablar?"” Lance asked, changing to Spanish to test Extrarius' apparent fluency in multiple languages.

“Si, puedo. ¿Estás poniendo a prueba? Creo que hablo todas las idiomas,” Extrarius replied, his Spanish apparently as natural and fluent as Lance's own was. It was a little off putting if truth be told, and Lance was almost afraid of the response. All of them? Every language in the world? It seemed impossible to Lance, and now he wondered what the first language Extrarius had spoken in was.

“A little bit, yeah. Sorry,” Lance switched back to English, mostly for the sake of Allura and Katie, neither of whom spoke other languages, and both of whom looked somewhere between confused and mildly irritated that they could no longer understand the conversation that was being had.

“What did you say?” Katie asked. She did not normally insist on a translation, or even mind it if he was speaking in Spanish to his family. Lance knew it was only because they were talking to an alien, a real life alien for the very first time.

“Oh, I asked if he speaks Spanish. And what other languages he speaks. He says he speaks all languages,” Lance said, and he was a bit glad to see the unsettled looks that Allura and Katie got when he did.

“But there's like, a thousand. How can you speak all the languages on Earth?” Katie asked, her tone a mix of awe and disbelief. Extrarius shrugged, not entirely sure what she wanted from him.

“I don't know if I actually know them all, but I'm fairly sure I do,” He said simply. And with no memory of anything, it was unlikely that they would be able to find out how he spoke so many or where he learned them all.

“Okay. Well, he is definitely not human,” Katie said, which caused a small snort of laughter from Lance.

“No, I don't think he is,” Lance agreed. Allura was frowning though, simply watching Extrarius quietly. She was apparently thinking very hard, as she seemed not to have heard what Lance or Katie had said. “Uh. Allura?” Lance finally asked, hoping to break the spell.

“Oh! Sorry. I just, I suppose we should think of something else to call him now is all, right? Extrarius is hardly appropriate as a name, not to mention to conspicuous,” She said.

“Yeah, I agree. I mentioned it earlier to him but he said he didn't know any human names so he could not pick,” Lance said.

“No, I suppose that is true. Well then, let's bring some up and choose a name for you,” Allura said, finding a list on her phone for Extrarius to look at. He browsed for just five minutes before he pointed to one and said his new name out loud.

“Keith.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation notes: 
> 
> Loquerisne Latine? = Do you speak Latin?
> 
> ¿Pero puedes hablar español? ¿Cuántos idiomas puedes hablar? = Can you speak Spanish though? How many languages can you speak?
> 
> Si, puedo. ¿Estás poniendo a prueba? Creo que hablo todas las idiomas = Yes, I can. Are you trying to test me? I think I speak all of them
> 
> Special thanks to my friend Robin for helping me with accurate spanish translations!


	10. Testing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is told at least some of what happened while he was unconcious, and agrees to at least some further testing, though it seems everyone is worried about one factor in particular, and he doesn't understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whaaat another update? It's not even been 3 days! I know, I know, but I'm not kidding when I said I missed writing as much as I did. Also, be aware in the previous chapter, the Spanish does have some regional differences, that is why some of you are reading it as 'are you mocking me' and not 'are you testing me'. 
> 
> Please be sure to comment, that is how I know people read this! Please check out my tumblr url seliphra, and consider buying me a ko-fi or comissioning me, as I have next to no hours at work and I'm beginning to worry about how I'll pay for May, let alone June

Keith was silent as he watched the cars outside. They were not terribly fascinating, but watching the world outside go by was what he was somewhat limited to right now. Having no memory at all was indeed something strange, something he could not fully articulate to anyone.

He retained some things. Ability to speak language, ability to add and subtract. Keith was not sure how to use the oven though, or turn on the television or work the remotes. So many buttons on there, he was not entirely sure where to start. The oven was much the same, and frankly he doubted he had ever used either of these things.

For one thing, he was apparently not from this planet. Lance told him he had crashed into the surface without even a ship, presumably from beyond the planet, but certainly at least from the upper atmosphere considering the size of the crater he apparently left. He had on him a knife and a robe, made of substances not of this planet too. Keith wished more than anything he could see them, hoping it might jog some memories.

For another thing, Keith had been in the lab for a full century. No doubt the humans had many advancements in technology between 1947 and 2047, so Keith supposed even had he known what an oven and a television were, they would have looked much different than they did now.   
  
Keith did retain just two things. A blurry image tinted with pale blue of Lance, while the overwhelming sensation of cold permeated every fibre of his being. The other thing was an overwhelming sense of urgency. There was something important he was meant to be doing, but he could not remember anymore what it was. And yet, somehow, he suspected he was where and when he was meant to be too. Whatever he was here for, it had not happened yet.

Keith's attention was drawn away from the window and watching the cars, people, birds, and everything else he could watch to the door. He heard someone walking, and sniffing the air he could tell it was Lance coming back with food for him to try, though they were unsure what foods he would like. He waited for the key in the door though, listening as Lance fumbled in his pockets for it, muttering under his breath, and the key entering the door. Keith could hear the music in Lance's earbuds too, along with the hum of the lights in the hall, the cars on the street. All of it at once, and yet none of it overwhelmed him.

“Welcome back Lance,” Keith said, as the door opened, and he returned to staring out the window. Keith liked Lance so far, though he had also only been awake for a day now. Katie and Allura were also supposed to be by later today, to help with the next set of tests they wanted to do on Keith. He'd had the physical yesterday, and today they wanted to test his senses and what he could do.

“Hey. Brought some food. You still haven't eaten anything, so you probably should at least _try_ something. Here, these are good. Potato chips! Delicious, but probably not so much good _for_ you,” Lance said. Keith wrinkled his nose when Lance opened the bag, the smell unpleasant to him. 

“No, I don't think I want those,” Keith said, finally turning back to look at Lance. He made Keith feel odd, in a way Katie and Allura had not, though Keith had no word to explain it really. He should have the word, he spoke every language humans knew, apparently, and them some, including fictional languages humans had _created_ for shows he had never seen and books he had likely never read. 

“Just try one? Please? I mean you were fine in stasis probably, but you need to eat _something_ now, surely?” Lance asked, coming over with a bowl for Keith. They smelled terrible. He sniffed at them again and wrinkled his nose once more. 

“Nope,” He said. Lance looked concerned by that, but he ate a chip from the bowl now. Keith did not understand how Lance could stomach something that smelled so foul. Lance did look worried, but Keith did not know why Lance wanted him to eat at all, nor why Lance did. 

“Okay. Uh. Well, are you hungry?” Lance asked, and Keith frowned in thought. He was missing his memories, but he felt like he should at least know what hungry was. He certainly knew it as an abstract concept, but not as something familiar might. 

“I don't think I know what hunger is,” Keith said. Lance's expression was fascinating when he said this. It was concerned, yes, but curious too. Excited in some ways. Lance's eyes were blue, and Keith liked blue. It reminded him of something, though he was not sure what. 

“You don't? Okay, well if your stomach hurts, tell me okay?” Lance said, and Keith nodded slowly, before glancing at the door.   
  
“Allura and Katie are here, as is someone new,” Keith said then. Lance glanced at the door, his mouth opening, though the door being unlocked and opened prevented him from doing so. 

“Katie! Allura, and Thace too, Keith, this is Thace, Thace, this is Keith,” Lance said, smiling though Keith noted his scent changed with his emotions. Stress? Lance was stressed by Thace's presence, and Keith was unsure why, but it put him on his guard too. 

“Keith?” Thace asked, looking at Keith now. Keith stared back, though as he concentrated on Thace he noted nothing that set off any red flags. Lance may simply be unused to this man then. Keith would still be wary. 

“Yes, Keith chose a name yesterday. We were not able to brief you before now but he is awake and apparently in excellent health. He is able to speak every language earth has, and he's quite intelligent, though he apparently has lost all his memories of before being on earth and cannot tell us his original name nor where he is from,” Allura said. 

“His eyes change colour,” Thace said, more softly, and sounding almost alarmed by it. Keith had not realized they were doing this at all. He supposed it must not be normal to humans. 

“Yeah, they do that,” Katie said with a large grin, “cool, right? Alright, so Lance did a physical yesterday after Keith woke up. No uvula or tonsils, eyes can't stay static, immeasurably fast adjustment to light and darkness, and he appears to have extra bones in his back, but they vanish under his ribs, so we can't be sure. We want to get an ultra sound, maybe an MRI done too. Has he eaten yet? Have you eaten yet?” 

“No,” Keith said simply. All of it smelled atrocious, except maybe the water, though even that was unappealing, and the mere sight of water made him anxious. 

“He should eat something right?” Allura asked, looking worried too, though Keith sighed, mildly irritated with all of this. He did not understand the concern, nor why eating was deemed so important by the others. Were all humans this focused on putting food into their mouths? 

“I tried, he says he doesn't know what hunger is. We'll just have to keep an eye on him, but he didn't need oxygen apparently while he was in the tank, so maybe he doesn't need food either?” Lance said, though his tone suggested he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else. 

“I don't know what hunger is, and the food smells disgusting anyways, so could we please get on with whatever it is you want?” Keith asked. 

“Er. Yes. As you know my name is Thace. I work for the Galra and Associated Corporation. My boss is the man who was in charge of ensuring we learned all we could from you. We've stolen you from them, and while we would like to learn more about you now too, we want anything you give to be done so voluntarily,” Thace said.

“Lance told me some of it. You're also with Voltron right? A group that works on bringing down corruption by exposing the evils of those who would harm others?” Keith asked. He liked them all for that much at least. 

“More or less. As Voltron we still would like to know about you, but also keep you hidden from the GAC, and the man who runs it. President Zarkon, to the outside world appears to be a kind man, who wants what is best for many. He pays his employees very well, he works in many fields, and the medical research division of the GAC has worked to cure many diseases and vaccinate many others. You were a part of that research I'm afraid. Your blood seems to have curative properties, unlike any we have seen before, and we used it for a great deal of research,” Thace said. 

Keith felt strange at the thought. Dirty, used. He felt revulsion at the idea that his blood was seen at all, though he could not explain the intensity of it. He did feel violated though, that they had used it, touched it, and seen it. This revulsion and anger apparently showed on his face too, as the humans smelled uncomfortable now. 

“Keith I-. We did something very bad. We thought you were dead for a long time. That your body worked but your mind didn't, so we thought that, um. It was still wrong. We're going to try to steal back what we can for you, but we can't undo what was already done to you. President Zarkon is going to try to get you back. He will do anything he can. He will put you back in that tank for another century if he can, and he won't care that you can move and speak, that you can think. He's cruel. And he's terrifying too,” Lance said.   
  
It took Keith twenty-two seconds before he looked up at Lance. He still felt very uncomfortable, and very violated, but he suspected these four, and likely the others in Voltron did mean well. That they would not try to force him to give them anything. He nodded slowly. 

“I'll let you learn about me for some things. I want to know about me as much as you do,” Keith said. He would say no to some things. His blood was not meant to be seen by humans, let alone used. Keith was not sure why he knew that was a rule, but somehow he did. 

“If it's alright with you then, we would like to test your senses first, and see how they compare with our own,” Katie asked, adjusting her glasses. Test his senses? He supposed that would be alright then. 

“We're going to do sight first, so uh, here, tell us what the smallest lettering you can read is from that distance,” Lance said, pointing to the hallway. Keith stood at one end, Lance at another while holding a sheet with letters on them. Keith recited all the bottom ones, since he could see them just fine. He repeated the action at Allura's request with several new sheets, once with a hand over his left eye, once with a hand over his right eye. Then they had him look out the window and see if he could read license plates that went past. Katie took pictures to confirm, and they seemed rather impressed that he got them all correct.   
  
“Really incredible visual acuity. We should test for colour next,” Katie said. This was an interesting test. Numbers in one colour, and all in differently shaped circles. The numbers were one colour, and the outsides another, and Keith had no difficulty with that at all, then proceeded to sort things out in hues. He was very quick at it, but even in different shades of some colours, they were still glaringly different to him. 

Next up they made a rainbow using a piece of glass, and asked how many colours he saw. They did not believe him when he said he saw eighty. At least not at first, but there were so many to look at, and he pointed them out one at a time. 

“He see's way more colours than we do,” Katie said very softly, making notes of that. Keith wondered which ones they could see and which ones they could not, but he did not ask them either. Next they wanted to test his sensitivity to touch. Keith appeared to be just as sensitive as they were, but not any more so, with the exception of his back. He could feel each part of his back that lifted off, and something about them was especially sensitive. 

“Alright, hearing test next, we're going to put these headphones on, and you're going to listen. When you hear a beep, you just press this button. Some of these beeps will be outside of the human range of hearing too, just to see if you can hear them. Some will be in the right pitch, but not at a volume we register either, and some will be in a pitch and volume we don't hear normally,” Katie said, handing him the headphones. 

Keith got every single one though there too, which surprised them immensely. His hearing and sight were far above human ranges, which only really drove home the point. He was not human. Smell was going to be next but Keith supposed he could counter that one already.

“If I tell you I can smell all of you, and could down the hallway before you arrived, and can smell changes in your emotions on your skin, would that be satisfactory?” Keith asked. All four of them looked shocked, before Lance slowly wrote that down too. 

“Taste is next, but that will be hard since you don't want to eat anything,” Lance said, frowning.   
  
“Well, what if we just plugged his nose and let him touch it with his tongue?” Katie asked. Keith frowned though, very much disliking the idea of putting anything in his mouth. 

“I don't think I want to do that one,” He said, and the others looked at him. He could smell the disappointment on Katie and Lance, though they nodded all the same. 

“We will not do anything you do not wish to,” Allura said, smiling gently. She smelled less disappointed than Lance and Katie did, much like Thace who did not seem nearly as invested in these tests as those two were. 

“Though if it helps, I don't think I can taste things? I don't know what taste really is any more than I do hunger,” He said. Lance looked thoughtful at that, and Katie took notes of her own before peering at Lance's and nodding to him, as though in agreement. 

“Is there anything else you two wished to test now?” Allura asked, glancing at the clock. It was growing late now, Keith had known the exact amount of time passing too. 

“Not right now no. We are going to have to make up some identity stuff for him soon though. This safe apartment will work, but Keith can't be trapped in here forever either,” Katie pointed out. Keith would like very much to go up to the roof. He was not sure why, but he enjoyed being high up, and this was not quite high up _enough_ for him. 

“We can work on that tomorrow. I'll stay here tonight,” Lance, said. Someone was to always stay, just to ensure his safety. It did make Keith feel a little bit better about not remembering anything, let alone enough to protect himself if the need arose. 

“Alright. We're going to head out then,” Allura said with a nod. Keith did wonder vaguely though if they were satisfied in what they had learned about him today. He suspected the humans all had more questions now, but then, so did he. Keith wished he could remember.

And always, the sensation that he needed to do something. Something important. Something that was almost here.  _But what?_ He wondered, as he resumed staring silently out the window to watch the world go about it's night.

 


End file.
